TMD2: The Sequel of the Masked Duelist
by Agent Baron
Summary: Join Baron Von Stupor as he crusades with Yugi and friends against the sinister Doma organization and a mysterious new enemy, Baron Von Engar. Who exactly is Baron Von Engar and why does he harbor such a grudge against Von Stupor?
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Hello, my readers. Yes, I'm not dead yet! After all this time, I finally present the awaited sequel to my first story, 'The Masked Duelist'! It took a while and honestly, the story's progress stagnated somewhere around two years ago. If you all are interested in why (and would like to delve into the petty-minded laziness that I am), I'll fill you in on the next chapter I post.**

**As for this story, it takes place right in the Doma arc, or the story arc with all the orichalcos and soul-stealing action. The story picks up as Yugi and friends finish dueling Mai at Industrial Illusions and as with the first story, this fic runs right alongside the main plot. Those of you who haven't watched the arc may find the story a little hard to follow, but I've tried my best to allude to what's going on in the main plot without wasting time explaining it as I tell Baron Von Stupor's story.**

**This time around, Baron Von Stupor gets a new antagonist as well as several new baddies to help progress the story since the baddies here are often found distracted by the other characters. Ack. :P**

**I've got great news about this story. There is zero percent chance of it going on hiatus, and that is because I already have it typed and finished. From here, I'll merely be posting two chapters a week; one on Monday and one on Wednesday. If I don't post it on one of those days, I'll try to post the chapter a day early. If I can't/don't, I'll post the chapter on the next available day. I'll repeat: this story is entirely finished and ready to post, I'm only posting chapters now, so zero percent chance of hiatus unless I lose my data, which I'll be backing up several times over, believe you me. :)**

**That said, I present to you all as of now the prologue and first chapter of 'The Masked Duelist 2: The Sequel of the Masked Duelist'! Enjoy, and I hope to receive many great reviews! Agent Baron, signing out!**

* * *

"Chapter 1: Prologue"

By: Agent Baron

Life was rather pleasant for Baron Von Stupor. He had settled into his new position at Industrial Illusions comfortably, and had even helped the company reach a new growth potential with his tactical thinking and intelligent decisions. Workers only dared compare his cunning to that of either Maximillion Pegasus himself or Seto Kaiba, two of the world's most successful businessmen. His eccentricity is matched only by his integrity, they would say.

All went rather well for Industrial Illusions until Pegasus began acting a tad strange. He tended to keep to himself and appeared quite distressed. After personally mailing off a parcel as he uncommonly does, he exhaled a sigh of relief as he sat in his office chair. He was followed into his room by Baron Von Stupor.

"Buddy!!" he excitedly spouted. "What's your issue?"

Pegasus smirked at his friend and underling. "Obliviously cheerful as always, eh, friend?" He sighed. "I'd tell you if I could, but I'm afraid this issue is quite personal..."

"More personal than the Duelist Kingdom incident? Come now, do not treat me as your barber and only speak of happy things..."

Pegasus bent forward and rested his forehead on his knuckles. "It's not that, Von Stupor, it's just that while I trust you, I would simply rather you not know... for your own sake."

"My own sake?"

"Call it a favor."

Von Stupor curiously cocked his head at this behavior, but obliged.

"If you see it best, I'll not bother you about it, then. Just try not to be so gloomy, hm? And eat 'Alternate'!" Von Stupor chucked a computer key at Pegasus, which he let bounce off the top of his head without budging. "Something is clearly bothering you, and I know it. Please feel better soon."

With that, Von Stupor left.


	2. Chapter 2: Conspiracy

"Chapter 2: Conspiracy"

By: Agent Baron

Baron Von Stupor trudges the halls of the empty Industrial Illusions HQ, looking for answers to questions he can't remember. Not a soul can be seen or heard as his footsteps echo the halls.

_Why is no one here? _he thought to himself. _ Is it a holiday? Perhaps there is a company meeting or gathering elsewhere? Unless... I bet the company is throwing a surprise birthday party for me on the wrong day._

Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion come from the direction of the main entrance. He skipped swiftly through the doors to see two strange men on the main floor, one of them holding what looked like Mai Valentine. The larger of the two rose his pendant into the air and a bright blue light engulfed the entire room, blinding him. He covered his face to guard against the light until it faded not long after. Looking down, he scanned the rest of the room. The men with Mai were gone, but he also saw Yugi, Joey, Téa, and Tristan down below. The security on the building which had somehow been activated after he arrived was disabled as Kaiba ambled in the door. Eager to see his friends again, Von Stupor scampered out of the room to find the nearest stairwell.

He entered back into the mezzanine as the group began to walk toward the door to the main tower.

"Friends, wait!" he called to them.

"Baron Von Stupor!" Yugi cried out in surprise. It was then that Von Stupor recognized his voice as Yami.

"Your hair still sticks up?" Von Stupor observed. "They have products for that, you know."

He reached out to smooth it when Yami moved his head away, a worried expression. Von Stupor was caught from behind by a slap on the back by Tristan.

"Von Stupor, howyadoin?" he asked, happy to see him. "I hear you've been taking good care of the company, eh?"

"Oh, no... I had a bad feeling I'd run into this clown. Of course with everyone gone, you'd be the only one left, just as clueless as ever," Kaiba grunted.

"Kaiba my friend, it's been so long! How have you been?"

"I'll be better once I finish my business here and continue on my way without you geeks."

Stupor looked to Yami and chuckled.

"He called me a geek," he said. "He thinks I'm so smart, but I know there are so many people smarter than me."

"There will be time to talk later, we must find the card Pegasus was supposed to give me," Yami interrupted suddenly.

"I do not know where he is, I apologize..." Von Stupor responded. "He is somewhere trying to throw a surprise birthday party on the wrong day, I believe."

Everyone looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

"Actually, Von Stupor... Pegasus was attacked recently..." Téa informed him.

"What?! Where is your proof?! Such jokes are cruel!" Von Stupor snapped back, raising his voice.

"Easy man, we'll tell you on the way!" Tristan said sympathetically, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Duke Devlin then came into the room, followed by Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, two defeated duelists from the Battle City tournament.

"Guys," he said. "I think I know where we should go! There was one door I couldn't unlock from the computer."

Suddenly Weevil spoke up, pointing at Von Stupor.

"You!! I... I remember you! You're that guy who... my deck... you destroyed it!" he choked, panicked.

"Weh...?" Von Stupor asked, his head cocked to the side.

"I'll never forgive you for what you did! Never! I ought to make you pay for every single one of thosae cards! Don't try and tell me you've forgotten about what you did!"

"Er... I..."

Joey pulled Von Stupor aside and said to him, "This guy was in the mini-tournament battle at the Battle City tournament. I think Majora messed with him during the duel, remember? It was the first time I ever saw you possessed by him."

"Oh, yes... you tried to throw my deck in the water, yes? So I would be disqualified?" Von Stupor then asked Weevil.

"Oh, haha..." he muttered. "Yes, I forgot about that... how about we call it even, then?" he chuckled nervously.

Von Stupor stared at him for a moment, and proceeded where the rest of the group was headed.

Together, the group journeyed to the top of the main tower while Von Stupor was informed of the gang's activities. He learned all about their brush with the mysterious Seal of Orichalcos and Pegasus's falling under its might to Mai Valentine.

"M... Mai? The harpie duelist?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"Yeah," Joey affirmed. "I was just as shocked as you are."

"She... she must repent!" Von Stupor boiled.

"Von... she's brainwashed by those orichalcos jerks. You can't blame her... you can't."

"Someone as strong as her could not possibly be brainwashed! Her fighting spirit..."

"Is not as strong as you think, Von. I understand her better than anyone here, and trust me, she's not as strong as she acts, and those biker punks managed to take advantage of that. I'm gonna get my revenge on them, and make them pay!"

"I as well." Von Stupor's hand clenched with burning anger.

At the top of the main tower, next to Pegasus's office, they found a door with a card lock in front of it.

"Do you know anything about this, Von Stupor?" Yami asked Von Stupor.

"Eh... only that I have not been in this door. 'Tis quite inconspicuous, so I never noticed it before."

Yami observed it for a moment, and took out a strange card from his pocket. Swiping it, the door mysteriously unlocked. He showed it to Von Stupor.

"I recieved that in the mail, along with the video I recieved from Pegasus," he told him.

Yami then marched into the room to see statues of Pegasus's toon monsters all around. A gigantic Toon Mermaid to the right, a Parrot Dragon hanging from the ceiling to the left, plus many more; it was an astonishing sight. Suddenly, a three dimensional hologram of Pegasus appeared before everyone.

"Yugi-boy..." it greeted Yami.

"Pegasus?!" Tristan exclaimed.

"It's a hologram, probably a prerecorded message," Kaiba explained.

Pegasus continued. "Yugi-boy, if you are viewing this message, then it seems that the gentlemen who were after me have finally succeeded."

"What?!" Von Stupor raged. "What gentlemen?! You did not tell me this?!"

"Baron Von Stupor, I know you are no doubt with the group by now. I want to apologize for keeping you in the dark on the whole matter... These men are very dangerous, and I didn't want you to get involved. This is a matter for Yugi to handle, the King of Games. I'm sorry for doubting you, Von Stupor, but considering that you aren't of legendary descent, I couldn't possibly risk your well-being. Heh, you won't listen to me, I'm sure... You're much too noble for that. Anyway, to the point of this message.

"Yugi-boy, this is the work of an organization known as Doma. They have decided to use the wonderful little monsters I have made and use them for their own evil purposes..."

Pegasus's hologram proceeded to explain about the mysterious organization known as Doma, claiming many of history's events to have been caused by said organization. These events included but were not limited to the rise and fall of Rome and the cultural revolution. According to Pegasus's hologram and an off-hand comment from Kaiba, Doma had also bought out Industrial Illusions and was purchasing horrendous amounts of shares from KaibaCorp as well. It then went on to postulate that Doma has begun acting in evil intention.

_Doma..._ Von Stupor thought to himself, pondering the name. _Doma attacked Pegasus and usurped the company. Not to mention, as long as Doma is in control, I no longer have a place in this company as vice-president and CEO. They have also been claiming souls by using a mysterious new card... 'The Seal of Orichalcos'. Something must be done!_

"Within this room, I have hidden a very secret card. I would have handed it to you myself, but I'm obviously in no position to do so. In order to find it, you must solve this riddle: Where can you go when you need an extra card?"

Looking around the room, Yami pointed to a sculpture of the Pot of Greed.

"Using the Pot of Greed allows you to draw two cards. It must be in there!" he said, Tristan moving to the statue. Tristan reached in and pulled out a card that was conspicuously blank.

"That's weird, there's nothing on this thing at all," he grumbled.

"Yugi," Pegasus's hologram continued. "I know you are the only one who can stop Doma's plans and my beautiful monster creations! I am placing all of my faith in you... I hope you understand, Baron Von Stupor."

"Heh..." Von Stupor chuckled.

As the group walked out, a figure suddenly leapt from nowhere and shoved Baron Von Stupor back into the room, breaking the locking device on the way and shutting the door behind it.

Von Stupor fell and slid across the ground. His cope stayed in place as he slid up and rolled backwards over its shoulders, draping it over his face. He got up with a jump and flung the cope over his head, revealing the figure to him.

He was of a bit shorter than Von Stupor's height and sported a white shirt with a large, over lined letter 'P' on the front as a design. He wore light blue colored jeans with white shoes, similar in comparison to Von Stupor's. Around his neck he wore a baby blue colored blanket as a cape. Perhaps his strangest feature was that we wore an odd mask, resembling a face with two stacked red stripes of war paint lining his cheeks, a brown stripe for each eyebrow and a blue line that journeyed down his forehead partway prior to heading back up in a symmetrical fashion. The eyes were very striking, a pure white with no pupils. The entire mask bore a battle ready look. Attached to the top of the mask was a gray hat, shaped like a cylindrical pyramid, the hat brim a darker shade of gray. The hat drooped down to just beneath his shoulder line, covering his entire hair area, rendering its color a mystery.

"Hello there, Baron Von Stupor! Long time, no see, eh?" he said in a sarcastic manner.

"Eh... who in the world are you??" Von Stupor asked in utter confusion. "You look a lot like a villain in a poorly made comic I've seen before..."

The man snorted. "Says a lot about your attire, what with how similar we are. Then again, I wear this getup as a mockery of you, anyway. I even have my own name: Baron Von Engar!" (A/N: Name is pronounced "Baron Von Anger".)

"What is your business with me? I have much more important matters to tend to!"

"Aw, now what business might that be?"

Pounding was heard on the other side of the door, ignored by both barons.

"Not that it is any of your business, but I must inflict revenge on the organization who has wronged my friend, colleague, and idol, Maximillion Pegasus! I am on a quest to defeat the Doma organization!"

"Doma, huh? That's quite the aspiration."

"You know of Doma?"

"Hmmm, you never know. So, you're seeking revenge, huh? That sounds a lot like what I'm here for. At least, just the part about revenge."

"Revenge? On me?"

"Ohhhhh, yes. And don't pretend like you don't know why."

"I have never even known anyone named Baron Von Engar before!"

"Oh, but you will, because we're going to duel."

"What? I have no time for this. Remove yourself from my path!"

"Ha... you're going to duel me, all right. Got your deck? I got your duel disk."

Just then, Baron Von Stupor noticed Engar wearing two duel disks. One was his, the other with a very peculiar design on it. Engar took Von Stupor's duel disk off and slid it to him across the floor.

"I know you've got your deck with you," he taunted. "Come on, put it in the system, let's duel!"

"I don't have time for this, Engar, let me leave!" Von Stupor's frustration and desire to continue his quest began to grow.

"Oh, you'll make time, all right... that is, if you don't want this whole place to go up in smoke..."

"You..."

"Thaaaat's right..." he sang. "I've rigged this whole place up with plastic explosives. I'm prepared to bring this whole place down on all of us, and don't think I'd mind."

Von Stupor was flabbergasted as Engar pulled out a detonator from his pocket and waved it about.

"What could possess you to... Why are you so desperate to duel me?"

"Like I said, I'm here on a revenge mission, too. Ha ha ha..."

"What did I do?!"

"Enough talk! Time to duel! _Do it!!_"

Von Stupor confusedly and fearfully pulled out his dueling deck and prepared to face his maniacal new opponent.


	3. Chapter 3: Weakness

**Nobody wants to know what happened? Well, only one person seems to have read the first chapters anyway. : /**

**Anyway, so I was working on the duels for the story a good couple years ago... and I happened to finish one particular large, complicated duel considering the way I was intending for it to end. Thanks much to my friend RadicalR for that one. I mean, this duel literally took about three or four hours to do. So I go home that day, and the duel was gone from my bag. He saw me pack it, I specifically remember packing it... needless to say, I was furious. I did not feel like doing those four hours all over again, at least not so soon... so the project stagnated. Fortunately, my brother wanted to duel after a while, for the first time in forever, really. That got me thinking about the story a little... then when I went to visit my father in Florida last month, I talked with a friend about the fanfiction, and she seemed interested. I started getting really interested too, until I became completely stoked to work on it. As soon as I got home, I cracked down on this damn story, and I'm proud to say that I think it turned out much, much better than it was originally, since I actually went back and revised the chapters I had completed so far. Made a few major changes, and I think this turned out so much better.**

**I'd like to dedicate this whole fanfiction to RadicalR, because his help with the duels and even the philosophical discussions regarding the characters as well as other things were quintessential to the heavy pride I take in this story.**

**And now, without further ado, I present Chapter 3!**

* * *

"Chapter 3: Weakness"

By: Agent Baron

"It's about time," spouted Engar. "Can you tell I'm eager to enjoy this? Heh... You go first!"

Von Stupor drew from his deck, leering at Engar.

_This man is utterly insane... _Von Stupor thought to himself. _ I don't know what will happen if I lose or win..._ "I'll set one M/T and one monster. That ends my turn!"

"I'll draw! I'll set an M/T and summon the Great Angus! End turn."

A large red creature with powerful jaws leapt from its card into the field.

_He summoned a Great Angus... this monster is four stars, with 1800 attack, and a FIRE-type beast monster. A tough one, and in the hands of an aggressive opponent can be brutal. I'm going to bank that his set M/T is not a defensive one._ "I'll flip summon my set monster, the Man-Eater Bug! This card allows me to destroy one monster on the field regardless of position, and I choose the Great Angus!"

The insect popped from its card and lunged itself at the beast. It gave a quick bite prior to being slapped away. The Great Angus was unfazed for a moment, when it grew light-headed and collapsed suddenly, disappearing from the field.

"Next," Von Stupor continued. "I'll sacrifice my monster to summon the powerful Jinzo, and attack your Life Points directly! If you're going to counter, I hope it's a Quick-Play Magic card, because any traps activated while Jinzo is on the field are instantly negated!"

Jinzo, upon appearing in Man-Eater Bug's place, charged a telekinetic ball of energy and shot it at Engar, nailing him right in his chest.

Clenching his fist, he said sharply, "My turn! I'll start by playing the Magic card 'Tribute to the Doomed'! By discarding a card from my hand to the graveyard, I may destroy one monster on your side of the field! Jinzo goes bye-bye!"

A coffin shot from under Jinzo through a hole which had appeared in the floor and bandages wrapped around him from all angles. Once completely wrapped, he fell into the coffin, which returned to the depths.

"Next, I'll summon the Solar Flare Dragon! It's a bit weak, I'm sure, but it has a nasty effect! At the end of my turn, you lose 500 Life Points!"

Von Stupor watched in surprise as a flame-laced serpent flew out of its card, eyeing him.

"Go, Solar Flare Dragon, attack Baron Von Stupor's Life Points directly! End turn!"

The creature obediently flew over and slammed Von Stupor with its tail. The blow knocked him back a few steps, but he was otherwise fine. The embers streaming from its body rained upon Von Stupor, dealing extra damage as per its effect.

_Another FIRE-type monster..._ he thought._ His deck is obviously fire-based, and he certainly knows what he's doing. I must finish this duel, however, and return to my mission!!_ "I draw! First I'll play 'Bait Doll', which shall force the activation of one of your face-down M/T cards! If it is a Trap and the timing is incorrect, then it will be negated and destroyed! If the timing is correct, then it follows through—"

"...And if it's a Magic, it returns to the normal position, I'm not stupid Baron Von Stupor." Engar finished for him. "I _am_ keeping up with you in this duel rather well, you know. Then again, if I'm not that great, that must also mean you actually really suck, right?" A snicker escaped his lips and Von Stupor stared. "_Oh,_ and you've just activated my 'Waboku' Trap card. Could have used it later, but doing it now is still doing me a bit of a favor, you know? Heh."

Growling, Von Stupor set a monster and ended his turn.

_What could I have possibly done to make this man so hell-bent on doing this to me??_ he wondered to himself exasperatedly and set a monster, ending his turn.

"Wow..." Engar continued. "5600 to 5500, and I'm in the lead! Awesome sight, isn't it? I'm winning against the guy who tied with the King of Games!"

"You have a 100 point lead..."

"Well, it's not much, I guess. I suppose I better do something about that, eh? I'll summon the Raging Flame Sprite!"

A fire branded fairy came from its card and flittered in place.

"This card's got a nice effect," boasted Engar. "You see, I don't trust your face-down monster after seeing that bug back there, so I'm going to leave that around and concentrate on what really matters to me. My Raging Flame Sprite is allowed to attack your Life Points directly! Now, 600 damage each turn is nice, but the wonderful part is that its attack increases by 1000 points after each successful attack! Feel the burn, baby! Go!!"

The sprite waved its magical stick about and launched a fireball at Von Stupor. Having nothing to defend himself with, he was hit in his chest, sending his Life Points to 4900. The monster's wand began to glow softly, indicating its attack growth.

"You talk too much," Von Stupor commented flatly, and set a second monster.

Engar stopped for a moment and stared.

"Ass," he uttered. "Interesting how you're saying that when you're losing. I'd expect you to be trying to teach lessons in morality if you were in my position, huh? I saw a lot of that on television during the big Battle City tournament. Like they say, if you can't take the heat... _stay out of the oven!!_ Raging Flame Sprite, attack!"

Engar's monster charged its wand and launched another projectile at Von Stupor, hitting him in the face making him jerk back from the force. His Life Points dropped to 3300 and the monster's attack steadily increased to 2600.

"Don't dish it out if you can't take it!" Engar scolded him. "You think everyone wants you walking all over them while talking down to them like they're some child?!"

"_I do it to teach lessons!!_ The people I have dealt with sink into steadily growing spirals of destruction and need one such as myself to force them back onto the right path!"

"Pah! You oughtta just let people help themselves, instead of intervening all the time, acting like you're all perfect! I'll summon the Ultimate Baseball Kid and end my turn!"

A little leaguer stepped out from its card waving a bat around, warming up. It had flames of determination in its eyes.

"This monster's attack is 300 by default," Engar explained. "but its attack raises by 1000 for every FIRE-type monster I have on the field, giving a grand total of 1300!"

"I need not justify myself to you, Engar! I have more pressing issues at hand!"

"Really, like what?!"

"_I just told you earlier, you buffoon!"_

"_I knew that, now shut up and play your cards or I'll implode this building in a heartbeat!!_"

Baron Von Stupor, after feeling his eye twitch, furiously flip summoned the Witch of the Black Forest on the field.

"Wait a minute!" interjected Engar. "She's a weak monster, so you're up to something! I'll activate my trap card, 'Backfire'! You'll now take 500 points of damage for every FIRE-type monster on my side of the field that is destroyed and sent to the graveyard!"

"Very well! I'll play the Magic card 'Riryoku', and transfer half of your Raging Flame Sprite's attack to my witch, giving it a 1300 point advantage over your sprite! Go, my witch, and attack the Raging Flame Sprite with Meghid!"

The witch cast its spell at the sprite, killing it instantaneously and without wound. It dropped to the ground like a dead insect and faded away.

"Now we are tied, at 4400 Life Points a piece, Engar. I'll now sacrifice my witch to tribute set one monster, and by sending it to the graveyard, I have triggered its effect. I may take one monster with a defense of 1200 or less from my deck and add it to my hand. That ends my turn."

"I'll simply summon the Great Angus and end my turn; and now, Ultimate Baseball Kid's attack grows to 2300! You're at a disadvantage! What'cha gonna do??"

"I'll pass this turn."

"Well then! I'll pay 800 of my Life Points to special summon my Great Angus from my graveyard, and that shall increase my Baseball Kid's attack to _3300_! You're not looking so hot! To think I've even been giving you all this time to come back, and you're hardly doing a thing..."

"I might do better if your voice hadn't grown so damned annoying..."

Engar's neck twitched.

"I set a monster and end my turn," announced Von Stupor calmly.

"Mmmm... _Great Angus, attack the set monster!_"

"Not so fast, I activate 'Mirror Force'! All of your attack positions monsters-- _all of your monsters_ are destroyed instantly and your attack is negated!"

The Great Angus, blew a large fireball at the set monster, which hit an unseen barrier and exploded into much shrapnel, piercing and felling every monster on the field. The entrails of the monsters turned into embers, which all blew back to Von Stupor, inflicting 2000 points of damage to his Life Points as per 'Backfire''s effect.

"Hard blow to me, but worse to you, you moron," Engar taunted.

_'Tis time to finish you, you loud-mouthed heathen,_ Von Stupor thought to himself._ I currently have a 'La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp' face-down and a 'Dark Blade' in my hand. With no defensive card on his side of the field, I can easily summon my Dark Blade and attack him with both monsters to win! This duel is over!_ "Not quite, you fool! Your arrogance will indeed be your down..." _Wait!! This man is absolutely insane and easily a loose cannon... If he wants to duel me so badly, it would only be to win. What would happen if I won? ...What would happen if I lost? I'll gamble and keep him alive, but in a strategically weak state for now, and see what happens when it looks like I can win..._ "I'll flip summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp and then summon from my hand the Sonic Bird, which carries a special effect! I may search my deck and take a ritual magic card from it and place it into my hand!"

An emerald-skinned genie emerged from its card as the a jetpack-clad eagle with goggles rocketed from its respective card hologram and onto the scene.

"Both of my monsters, attack!"

La Jinn flew over and gave Engar a hard slap to the face as the Sonic Bird followed suit by flaring its jet pack at the side of his head, sending his Life Points to a scarce 400.

Afterwards, Von Stupor gauged his reaction and was not pleased. He noticed Engar's free hand balled up very tightly and shaking lightly. His head had a slight twitch to it.

_This man has completely lost it... I do not know what to do..._ realized Von Stupor.

"I draw," Engar began. He was suddenly very quiet and equally serious. "I'll set one monster, then remove Ultimate Baseball Kid from play from my graveyard to special summon the Spirit of Flames. This monsters attack increases by 300 during each of my Battle Phases."

A bright red, devilish creature rose from the ground, engulfed in flames. It gave Von Stupor a hard stare as it growled lowly.

"I use my Spirit of Flames to attack the Sonic Bird!"

The behemoth, with a mighty hand, grabbed the Sonic Bird and squeezed hard. After a moment or two, it threw the charred remains at the ground, which promptly fell to pieces from the brittleness.

"1300 Life Points..." Von Stupor uttered to himself. _I can still finish him if I want to... I believe I shall go for it... The surprised shock may give me enough time to subdue him with my mask's power._ "I shall play the 'Black Illusion Ritual'!"

"Ohhh, here comes _that_ again. I'm really scared," Engar commented sarcastically.

"I'll sacrifice my Dark Blade from my hand to ritual summon the almighty Relinquished!"

A large golden pot bearing an embossed eye on the front sat between two flaming goblets. The fire was inhaled into the pot and the bizarre creature then burst from within.

"I'll use Relinquished to absorb the Spirit of Flames and then La Jinn to attack your set monster!"

Relinquished began an immense suction coming from a hole in its lower torso. The Spirit fought his hardest, but could not overpower the inhalation and soared into Relinquished. Relinquished's shoulder flaps closed over its body and the spirit's face emerged from the right flap.

"I remember that..." Engar spoke aloud.

La Jinn soared over and Engar's UFO Turtle popped out of its card. La Jinn grabbed the monster by its shell, held it high and slammed it to the ground, breaking the shell off and spilling its entrails everywhere. La Jinn turned and happily held the shell out to Von Stupor when it exploded and sent chunks of shrapnel at Von Stupor, dealing 500 damage to his Life Points. La Jinn, sat with a stupefied look for a moment and returned to it position, wiping the black residue from its face and body.

"UFO Turtle has an effect that allows me to pull a FIRE-type monster with an attack of 1400 or less and special summon it to the field," Engar explained. "and I'll choose... a second UFO Turtle! Oh, and hey... you may wanna be careful... Destroy two more monsters and thanks to 'Backfire' you'll be history, buddy! Wa ha ha ha..."

_Things are not particularly in my favor anymore..._ Von Stupor reluctantly figured.

"So hey, I'm going to play a Field Magic card here, 'Molten Destruction'! This increases the attack of all FIRE-type monsters by 500 points! Next, I'll attack La Jinn with my UFO Turtle!"

The entire room suddenly transformed into the site of an active volcano. Embers and ash billowed all about, and behind Engar was a volcano, the lava pouring down its sides. A laser popped out of the shell of the UFO Turtle and beamed a hole straight through La Jinn's shoulder, crippling him prior to sending a final shot through his head. La Jinn dropped and faded as Von Stupor's Life Points fell to 700.

"I'll shift Relinquished into defense position and end my turn!" announced Von Stupor.

"Awww... playing the coward now, eh? Fine then, I'll summon the Little Chimera! This will increase the attack of all FIRE-monsters on my side of the field by 500!"

A small cat with bat wings emerged from its card.

"Now, since your Relinquished uses its equipped monster to keep its own self alive, I'm going to attack it with my UFO Turtle first, and then my Little Chimera!"

The UFO Turtle readied its laser and fired at Relinquished. It completely impaled the creature, but was kept alive by comsuming the energies of the absorbed spirit of flames. Left resourceless, however, the Little Chimera then pounced upon it and blew a stream of flames at its eye, killing it within moments.

"Your turn," Engar mentioned cooly. "Your _final_ turn."

Von Stupor could hardly believe it. Though he had his chance and missed it, he still couldn't believe that this entire ordeal had happened. Even worse, though, he knew that his opponent would walk away thinking that he had beaten Von Stupor honestly.

"There is one thing left, that I can do," he said. "I will admit, I have no way of winning this duel. Even worse, I cannot tie it. I will freely speak aloud that I could have finished you off a while back, Baron Von Engar, but quite frankly, I'm afraid of your reaction. You will have won this duel, however, you will not be able to say you defeated me, because the one of the last things I would ever desire is for someone as arrogant and selfish as you to claim dominance over myself. I shall play the Magic card 'Dark Hole', and destroy all remaining monsters on the field! Because you have two left, I will take 1000 Life Points of damage and destroy my own self!"

"What?!" Engar shrieked. "_No, you wouldn't!!_"

"I just did."

A large ball of dark energy appeared and knocked Engar's remaining monsters of their feet. Swirling around the room, they eventually warped into the abyss and the room returned to its original pre-duel state.

"You dirty bastard..." Engar muttered.

"You've had your duel, now leave me! I think you have paid me back my dues..."

Chuckling, Engar said, "Well played, Von Stupor. Didn't expect you to go down in a blaze of glory like that! Some may call that copping out, but I'd rather speak of it as irony in my case, I really didn't expect that. Besides, I wouldn't really want to defeat you like this anyway."

"I don't care what you think, I will be leaving now."

"Oh no, not yet. As part of our, ahem, predetermined ante, I will now be confiscating your deck for winning."

"_What?!_"

"You didn't think I was gonna let you off _that_ easy, did you really? Haha! You forget, you've taken away something very, very important to me, and even left me in a state of turmoil and (in case you haven't noticed) even a state of... oh, shall we say eccentricity."

"Funny, I would prefer the term insane."

"Don't they mean the same thing?"

"I see eccentric as being crazy without also being detrimental to yours or anyone else's health. You're hardly eccentric."

"...True, I guess. So anyway, that deck."

"I'm not giving you my deck!!"

"Oh, I think you will, if you want your friends to live through this wonderful visit to Industrial Illusions..." Engar waved the detonator about.

Von Stupor, free fist clenched, extracted his deck from his duel disk and handed it to Baron Von Engar.

"Oh, wow... I can really feel your weakness ebbing from inside..." he commented, and began to walk toward the door. "Oh, and by the way..." He turned and tossed the detonator to Baron Von Stupor, which merely turned out to be a laser pointer. "I don't know how to rig up bombs!"

Before Baron Von Stupor could even react, Engar held a stone into the air, which exploded in a luminous blue light that blinded him. By the time his vision cleared, Engar was long gone.


	4. Chapter 4: Night

"Chapter 4: Night"

By: Agent Baron

Suddenly, Joey, Tristan, Téa, Duke, and Amy felt rumbling all around them.

Detecting a purple glow emitting from the door frame, Joey spouted, "Guys, I don't think we wanna be standing here!"

The group jumped to either side of the door as it suddenly exploded from the frame in pieces. Von Stupor burst from the room, erupting dark energy as he plowed through the walls and out of the building. They watched in shock through the hole he made as he shot to the ground and landed on his feet. A purple aura swirled about him as the ground beneath cracked under his raw power.

"_Engarrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!_" he bellowed furiously.

Afterwards, the aura died and he slumped a tad. He paced around in a circle for a while in the grass, then shortly dropped to his knees.

Yugi and company hurriedly made their way to the building's exit and upon reaching Von Stupor, he was lying on his back, sprawled out in the grass.

"Von, what the hell happened back there??" Joey asked him incredulously.

"Baron Von Engar... the bastard stole my deck..." he replied lowly.

"On top of that, my guess is that you'll be paying for what you did to the building, too," Kaiba snidely mentioned.

Ignoring him, Von Stupor added, "He led me to believe that the building was laced with plastic explosives, but as I later learned, it was simply a farce to beat me in a duel and take my deck as the ante."

"What??" Yugi interjected. "Von Stupor, how could you ever agree to that??"

"I didn't! He used the fear of the plastic explosives against me and left me with little choice... I also could have defeated him, but I would have been risking your lives... The man is completely mad, and he mentioned that he was unafraid to bring the building down on himself if it meant my life as well... I perhaps could have saved myself, but I was unsure of you all, so I played it safe and ultimately lost. And yet... it was all simply a facade, a trick. I had been duped, made a mockery of, and I have even lost a prized possession, my dueling deck. All of my monsters are gone, my Relinquished... my Thousand-Eyes Restrict... The Fiend Megacyber, La Jinn, all of them are gone!"

"That rotten bastard..." Tristan commented, his fist clenched.

"Von, you just leave this jerk to me!" Joey declared. "I'll teach him never to mess with the friends of Joey Wheeler ever again!"

Von Stupor then sat up.

"I appreciate the intention... but 'tis my duty! You're already on a quest for the world. My monsters yearn to avenge the ones who have been taken from me."

"Do you have other cards?" asked Yugi. "I can let you borrow some of mine..."

"Not many, but I shall use what I have to overcome that damned thief and claim what is rightfully mine! A true duelist fights with his or her own sword."

"And his name is Baron Von Engar?" Tristan verified.

"Indeed, or at least 'tis what he says it is. Could be something different."

"Just like Baron Von Stupor is what you say _your_ name is, right?"

Von Stupor stopped and thought for a moment.

"My name is Baron Von Stupor!" he said sternly, causing a laugh amongst the others.

"We don't have much time to stick around though, and we don't even know where to go next!" Téa reminded everyone.

"Yeah, and we need to hurry up and save Mai!" Joey commented.

"Allow me to grab my collection, 'tis not big," Von Stupor agreed. "I'll construct my new deck along the way to the next destination."

"What is our next destination?" Duke asked. "And where the heck did Kaiba go?"

Just then, everyone turned to see Kaiba taking off in the Blue-Eyes White Jet.

"Damn Kaiba can't even give us a lift," muttered Joey. "Ah, who needs him?"

"It wasn't long ago that Yugi gave that strange stone to Professor Hawkins. Maybe he's learned more about it since? He doesn't live too far from here, I don't believe."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" chirped Yugi. "Let's go!"

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

Duke drove the car with Téa in the passenger seat. Von Stupor, Amy, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan piled in the back while Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, still barely acknowledged by the others, rode in the trunk.

Von Stupor, with what little room he had, shuffled through his cards.

"What are you doing there, Von Stupor?" Yugi asked him.

"I am sifting through here, examining my monsters. I really haven't much here, less than I thought... I am looking for similar themes amongst my monsters, and then contemplating a strategy to use them with. Not enough room here to do any constructing, and such."

"Gah!" Téa gasped, lifting herself up a bit. "There's something in my butt!"

"_Oh,_ heh heh!" laughed Joey, adjusting his foot. "I thought that was the armrest!"

"Von Stupor," Amy asked him. "I've been saving this question for the next time I came across you, since we really haven't been able to talk since I was brought into this world, but... how...?"

"Eh?"

"How in the world was I summoned? It... doesn't make any sense..."

"Oh, I could have answered that for you, Amy!" Yugi jumped in. "You see, during a shadow game, monsters that are summoned are actually real. There is a Sailor Moon trading card game here, and Von Stupor played a Sailor Mercury card during his duel with Majora, instead of a regular Duel Monsters card. Then, somehow, you were summoned. But since you weren't a Duel Monsters card, he removed you from play and drew a replacement card from his deck."

"But then why would you have a Sailor Moon card in a Duel Monsters deck?"

"Gauge enemy reaction," Von Stupor commented, still sorting through his cards. "Though the ensuing effect in the shadow game resulted in my equal confusion."

"This whole thing is so weird..."

"Well, Joey sure ain't complaining!" Tristan butted in.

"Hey!!" Joey shouted. "You're lucky I can't move!"

Just then, they had arrived at the Hawkins' estate to find that it had been completely burned to the ground. Shocked, everyone leapt out of the car and began to search for the professor and his granddaughter, Rebecca.

Then, Rebecca approached from the wreckage, a saddened look on her face. She was a very young girl, but very gifted mentally. At the mere age of 12, she has already become the proud U.S. champion of Duel Monsters and entered college. She sports long blonde hair, glasses, and a small hint of freckles.

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

Fortunately, the Hawkinses owned an RV in which Rebecca had been living out of. Everyone decided it best to settle down for the night and take a while to absorb everything that had happened so far. While Duke, Tristan, and Téa helped to prepare dinner, Joey raided the fridge and Von Stupor sat down to construct his deck. When dinner was ready, everyone sat down to eat. They learned from Rebecca how the house met its disastrous end. Rebecca had been coming home with some food in time to see her grandfather being guided into a helicopter by helmeted men with guns. As she raced toward the departing helicopter on her horse, the house suddenly exploded, leaving nothing behind. There she stayed until Yugi arrived.

"I wonder what Doma wanted with the Professor," Von Stupor wondered aloud.

"It might have something to do with the stone that I gave him to examine," Yugi said.

"Fortunately, I still have the stone. My grandfather told me to take good care of it, just in case," Rebecca said, taking off the necklace and giving it back to Yugi.

"I fear this deck may not be as powerful as my original deck..." Von Stupor lamented.

"As long as you put your heart and soul into your deck, the possibilities are limitless," Yugi told him. "Just have faith in your monsters and the heart of the cards and you can defeat any enemy."

"We shall see," Von Stupor said uneasily, and loaded his completed deck into his duel disk.

Dinner soon ended, and everyone prepared to sleep.

_Potatoes... potatoes... potatoes..._ Von Stupor dreamt.

_I like potatoes, yes I do..._

_I will name them all... just for you..._

_Potaaaaaatooooooooeeessss... coming out the wiiiiindooooow..._

_Potaaaaatooooooes... iiiin the daaaark!!_

_Love... love the potato..._

_Kiss... kiss the--_

Suddenly, Von Stupor was awakened by the others' rustling.

"What is the matter?" he asked them.

"Yugi's missing! He left to go duel one of those biker punks, we have to go get him!" Joey said, rushing out with Duke. "Von, stay here, we'll take care of Yugi! Just in case, right?"

"Eh..." Von Stupor grunted in tired confusion.

"I'm going too, Joey!" cried Tristan as he rushed out the door.

Von Stupor plopped his face down on the pillow again. He heard talking, but didn't try to listen. Looking up from curiosity, he saw Amy step out of a room and look around. Suddenly, Professor Hawkins stepped into the trailer, and Von Stupor got up with a jump.

"Professor... you're back?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes... Raphael, one of the three horsemen of Doma, stayed true on his word to let me go if Yugi came to duel him... It was a long walk, but I made it back..." he replied, breathing heavily and sitting down on a dinner bench and leaning against the wall. "Joey has already left with your other two friends to go after Yugi."

"Where is Weevil and Rex?"

"I... don't even know who they are. I only saw Joey and the other two boys."

Suddenly, a shrill voice shouted from outside.

"Exit the trailer, and meet your doom!"

Amy began to open the door when Stupor suddenly grabbed her by her arm.

"If we stay inside, will doom go away?"

There was a brief silence, and then the voice spoke once more.

"Uh... no, it won't! Your doom will linger around until you come outside to meet it!"

"Can it come back later? This isn't a good time!"

"That's merely a matter of perspective! To your doom, what better time is there, since the stronger of your duelists aren't even around? It's much more preferable if you met your doom now!"

"I am a strong duelist too, though! I stayed here, just in case our doom came to meet the others while no one was around!"

"Uh... gr... Your doom promises it won't be here for very long, if you only come outside for a minute!"

"This is getting stupid," Rebecca growled and opened the door. Outside stood Baron Von Engar.

"_You!!_" Von Stupor shrieked and lunged out the door, tackling Engar. He and Engar rolled to the ground and wrestled shortly before Von Stupor was knocked off by a mechanical hound that had obviously accompanied him.

Up in a flash, Von Stupor shouted at Baron Von Engar, "_Give me back my deck!!_"

"What? Deck? I have come to duel you for your soul!"

"_I want my deck back!_"

"I want your soul!"

"_Give me my deck back!_"

"I am Baron Von Engar, and I challenge you to a duel!"

"Give him his deck back!" Amy commanded Engar.

Engar looked at all the angry duelists and back at the mechanical dog, who merely stood in place.

"I'll duel ya for it!" he said.

Von Stupor looked between the mechanical dog and Baron Von Engar and clenched his fist.

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"I'm just doing my job, man. Besides, you called me weak one day... I'll show you how powerful weakness really is!"

"I have heard enough! I will trounce you with the power of my... backup deck."

"I will duel you," spoke the dog from an unseen speaker to Amy.

"Me? You want to duel me?" she asked back, unsure if it was really the dog talking.

"Yes, we will duel."

"Wait just one moment!" Rebecca shouted at it. "Duel me instead!"

"I will duel the blue-haired girl, not you."

"He won't duel you, Rebecca. If he had any intention of dueling you, he would have approached you. He has a reason for selecting me," Amy observed.

"He knows who I am," Rebecca guessed.

"The odds are in my favor to duel the blue-haired girl. I will not accept any other opponent at this time," Marron said.

"I don't have a choice, Rebecca… cheer for me?" Amy asked.

"Of course I will! You better come back safe or I'm going to make this mechanical mutt regret it!"

Marron merely walked a short ways away and a duel disk folded out of its back. Different mechanical arms manipulated and shuffled the cards, preparing them for the duel.

"It is my duty to return to Master Dartz with souls for his god. I will not fail," it buzzed.

Von Stupor readied his duel disk, not entirely confident of what will happen.

_Believe in the liver of the cards..._ he thought.

* * *

**You know, Baron Von Engar's existence in this story is very interesting and the entity of Engar bears a lot of significance to me. That's because this is the seed that gave birth to Baron Von Engar in the Baron Syndicate. Yes, not only are Stupor's origins in The Masked Duelist, but so are Engar's! Coincidence? I first started thinking about doing a sequel some time into my senior year of high school, which meant that the first story had to ****have been approaching endgame by then. I figured it woud be pretty cool to introduce another Baron into the fray, but as an enemy instead of adding to Stupor's ever-growing list of allies. Besides, Baron versus Baron? Talk about a clash of the titans that everyone hopes to see! Especially if the 'rival' of sorts is stalking Stupor the entire way.**

** - For those of you who don't know about the Baron Syndicate, it is the name of an original series of adventures featuring Baron Von Stupor and his company, the Baron Syndicate. Featuring an original cast of characters (some not-so-original, inspired by various cultural references), it centers around Baron Von Stupor, his damn evil mask, and how it affects the life of everyone around. Humor-based, with plenty of action to keep the fight-lovers happy. For a more comprehensive example of the Baron Syndicate, see my other fanfic, 'Kingdom Hearts: Trial of the Syndicate'. The entire Baron Syndicate crew is used in that story.  
**


	5. Chapter 5: Self DASH Contradiction

**What the heck is with not letting me put punctuation marks in my chapter titles? Anyway, every Monday and Wednesday? What was I thinking? This is taking too long. I'll still be posting two chapters a week, but not stinking Monday and Wednesday. How about... uh... Sunday and Wednesday? It'll keep things a little more regular for my readers... all two of them. Ha, ha, ha... Enjoy chapter 5!**

* * *

"Chapter 5: Self-Contradiction"

By: Agent Baron

"You draw first," Engar stated. "I want you to see how weak I can really be!"

"Very... well?" said Von Stupor, confused. _There is something about Engar that doesn't make sense,_ he thought. "I will set three M/T cards and one monster! That ends my turn."

Engar then drew, and set one monster.

Von Stupor simply set one M/T on his next turn.

"What's the matter?" said Engar snidely. "Simply getting your defenses up? Afraid of this... this weakling?" Engar sniggered and passed his turn.

_Not like I have much of a choice..._ Von Stupor thought, looking at his card selection in his hand. "I set one monster and end my turn."

"This isn't like you, Baron Von Stupid. Usually you're on the attack by now!" Engar continued to taunt. "Is something wrong? Afraid of my set cards?"

Von Stupor merely stared at Engar, quietly.

_I do not like this man,_ he thought.

"Well, if you won't go on the attack, then I will! I will summon 'Agent of Creation - Venus'!"

"Not so fast!" Von Stupor interjected. "I will activate my Trap Hole! Your Agent of Creation has more than 1500 attack points, so it is destroyed on summoning!"

Clouds opened up and a bright light shone all about as a winged angel bearing a green and white dress descended from the sky. As its feet touched the ground, it gave way underneath her and she tumbled to her doom in a rather ungraceful manner.

"If your monsters are so weak," Von Stupor thought out loud. "then why are they destroyable by my 'Trap Hole' card?"

Engar clenched his fist and ended his turn.

"I will set one more monster and end my turn," Von Stupor said aloud.

"That puts three monsters on your side of the field, plus you have three set cards in your M/T zone," Engar observed. "However, none of that matters, as I shall show you the true strength of weakness! I will summon a second 'Agent of Creation - Venus' to the field! Any more counters, Mister Baron?"

"I have none."

Another agent of creation descended from the sky, light billowing all around her. She outstretched her arms and three shining balls of light appeared around her. They generated a warm glow of pure white light.

"By sacrificing 500 of my Life Points, I can special summon a Mystical Shine Ball from my deck or hand, and I choose to special summon two!" Engar gloated. "I also have one already face-down on my side of the field, as well, so I'll flip summon that, too!"

_But why LIGHT-type monsters?_ Von Stupor wondered. _A true duelist's deck is a representation of their heart and soul. Engar has a fiery rage against me built inside of him, and yet now he summons such weak monsters of light..._

"Now, for my grand attack!" Engar announced. "First, I will play the ultimate magic card... 'Seal of Orichalcos!'"

"What?!" Von Stupor cried.

Amy and Rebecca, who had been watching, all gasped.

"Oh, you recognize this card, huh? Then you must be familiar with its effect!" Engar spouted proudly.

High in the air above the two duelists' heads, a large seal appeared. Runes began to swirl about it as a hexagram was drawn across it in blue lines of light. Baron Von Stupor turned to run from the seal, but an unseen force threw him back toward the duel as the seal slammed down over the two duelists. Another seal appeared over the forehead of Engar and the eyes on the mask began to glow red.

"This card increases the attack of all monsters on my side of the field by 500... and it also traps the both of us here until the duel is over! At least... only one of us..."

"The loser's soul remains... trapped," Von Stupor finished.

"Yes, and sacrificed to our mighty god, to fuel its resurrection!"

"So this is why you took my deck... to weaken me, so you could later take my soul without a fight. You, sir, are a cowardly man, to challenge me outside my full strength! How dare you call yourself a duelist?!"

"Why do you keep going on about that stupid thing? It's not like it's serving you any good anyway!"

"A duelist's deck is the heart and soul of any true duelist! Just because you have a sword does not mean you must use it! You can't even make up your own mind what deck to use! From flames to fleeting weaklings, you are as inconsistent as your thought process! You are truly a weakling in the truest sense!"

"_Shut up!!_ I'll show you! I will play the magic card 'Delta Attacker'! When there are three monsters of the same name on my side of the field, those three monsters may attack your Life Points directly for this turn! Next, I'll play 'Thousand Energy'! This card increases the attack of all face-up level 2 or lower monsters on my side of the field by 1000 for this turn!"

The light brightened within the three Mystical Shine Balls as they floated in circles around the agent of creation. Their swirling gradually became faster and more manic.

"Oh, dear," Von Stupor uttered to himself.

"But that's not all! I will play 'Premature Burial', sacrificing 800 Life Points to bring back the agent of creation you just destroyed on my last turn!

"Now, my weaklings! Attack him directly!"

The three balls of exploding light each shot at Baron Von Stupor, all three striking him in the chest. The force threw Von Stupor back a few steps, but he was otherwise fine. His Life Points sank to a meager 2000.

"Now," Engar continued. "I'll use my agent of creation to attack your face-down card."

"You have attacked my Princess of Tsurugi," Von Stupor replied. "It is destroyed, but contains a potentially devastating flip effect! It inflicts 500 points of direct damage for every M/T card you have on your side of the field!"

The agent pointed a finger at the face-down card when a red-robed girl leapt out of it with crystals held between her fingers like throwing knives. While in the air, she threw two directly at Engar, striking him in his chest and sending his Life Points down to 5200. Engar dropped to one knee and groaned for a moment.

Returning to his feet, he ordered his second agent to attack Von Stupor's second face-down monster. The agent shot the card and a burning Hane-Hane creature burst from it. It barreled toward the agent and hit it with such force that in a burning ray of light it shot back to Engar's hand.

"My Hane-Hane has rid the field of your monster for now," Von Stupor stated. "And now, I draw... I place one monster face-down and I will play the magic card 'Fissure'! This card destroys a monster on your side of the field with the highest attack!"

The ground split open underneath Engar's second agent of creation and it fell in. The ground quickly caved in over top of it, sealing its fate.

"Hm... I'll draw... and summon the agent of creation you just returned to my hand!"

"Not quite! I have another 'Trap Hole' card ready to destroy it as soon as it appears!"

The agent of creation descended once more and the ground opened up in front of it. It looked down into the hole and from nowhere, a brick struck the agent in the back of her head and she fell into the hole, dazed.

"And now, I draw!" Von Stupor announced. "I will set one more monster and end my turn!"

"Come on! Where is all your aggressive stuff at, huh?" Engar asked. "Surely you can do better than that! All you're doing is destroying my monsters! I will summon the Emissary of the Afterlife!"

"I will counter that summon with a third 'Trap Hole'!"

"_Stop it!!_ Do something else! Take out your strong monsters or something!"

On the field materialized a wight that resembled the grim reaper. It hissed at Von Stupor until suddenly, a hole opened underneath it and sucked it in like a vacuum.

"What is your problem??" Rebecca asked him snottily. "Will you quit screaming like you're some kind of kid? Shut up and duel, and quit complaining when your opponent uses more strategy than you! You deserve that after stealing Baron Von Stupor's deck!"

"You're a kid too, so shut up girly, before I go all Weakass McCass on you!"

"Weakass McCass?" Von Stupor asked as Rebecca stared at him, befuddled.

"Yeah, that's the name I received, all thanks to you!"

"Why are you so proud of it?"

"I'm _not!_" Engar sniveled. "You're such a loser!"

"You are one large, walking contradiction! First you take my deck, and now you're oblivious to that fact! You're so proud of having your weak monsters, but you're so mad about being called Weakass McCass!"

"_Stop calling me that!_"

"And _now_, while you first used FIRE-type monsters in a rather fearsome beatdown deck, now you're using an entirely different strategy! Now, my question is, _why_??"

"I am Baron Von Engar, duelist extraordinaire!" Engar shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

"There are only two possible explanations for this," Amy suddenly spoke. "The first of which is that Baron Von Engar is undeniably insane, and in the end has no clue what he's trying to do."

"That explanation is likely false," Stupor replied. "since when I faced him in Industrial Illusions, he was very cunning and manipulative... he knew exactly what he was doing from the beginning, and seemed to be acting according to a plan."

"That leaves only one explanation... this man is not really Baron Von Engar."

Engar suddenly grew silent.

"Who are you, impostor?" Von Stupor asked him.

"I am Baron Von Engar!"

Baron Von Stupor extracted a mouse ball from his cope and threw it at Baron Von Engar. The ball hit him in his hip and he recoiled to one side, clutching it.

"_Owwww!_ That hit the bone, man, what the crap?!" he shouted.

"Who are you?! If must I ask again, you will taste the next one!"

Engar stomped back into place and ripped his mask off. Engar appeared to be a simple late teenager, but appeared oddly generic. He had short, straight brown hair and bore a heavy scowl. "I'm Weakass McCass," he said in a low voice.

"You look... familiar..." Von Stupor said to him.

"You defeated me in the Battle City tournament. You embarrassed me in front of my entire class, as well as people from other classes."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

_"Whatever!" shouted the uniformed boy. "Just because you're older doesn't mean you can beat me in a duel! I'm the best in my school! Heck, I'm the best, period!"_

_"You speak lies!" replied the masked duelist. "No one can ever say they're the best, for there is always someone better."_

_"Do you really think you can come from out of nowhere, wearing your stupid coat/cape thing—"_

_"You dare insult the coat of Baron Von Stupor!" the masked duelist shouted. The coat must be a dear possession, as he was offended quite easily._

_"Is that your name? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! What person in their right mind would name their kid that?!"_

_The boy, as well as the rest of the crowd, began to laugh._

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"I used to be the best, but ever since that duel, I've stunk. I used to win tournaments... but now, ever since that day, I've been horrible! People began to call me Weakass McCass. 'Poor little Weakass can't even take down a big, bad Battle Ox!' Everyone makes fun of me now because of you!"

"I... remember..." Von Stupor said to himself.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

_"No matter!" Von Stupor retorted. As he said this, The Gemini Elf fell into an unseen hole in the ground and was destroyed._

_"What the?! What happened to my Gemini Elf!" the boy shrieked._

_"You poor fool," said Von Stupor, calmly. "You activated my "Trap Hole". It can halt the rampage of even the strongest of monsters."_

_"But... that's not fair!"_

_"Halt your childish tantrum and continue the duel, or does someone need to take a power nap?"_

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"I'll never forgive what you did to me! You made me the worst duelist around! And then I found Master Dartz... I saw a man's soul be claimed by one of Master Dartz's men... I contacted him and asked for the same power he had. I received the 'Seal of Orichalcos' card from Dartz, and had access to legions of cards to build my new deck with! My new start. No one would ever call me a weakling again! They would know and rue the day they named me Weakass McCass! And you will rue the day you humiliated me in front of my entire class!"

"I remember you now," Von Stupor commented. "But I don't understand why you would dress yourself up as Baron Von Engar if you wanted me to remember who you were. It doesn't make any sense."

Engar paused for a moment and said, "Uh… Er, I was waiting for a time like this to tell you! The perfect time, when you wouldn't expect it, all dramatic-like! And now, don't you feel dumb now, having attacked me earlier, I bet! You see, I wanted to expose you for how stupid you really are!"

"You still haven't learned, have you? You had your feelings hurt in a tournament after trash talking so many up-and-coming duelists, and now in your feverish temper tantrum you have gone to an evil man with a thirst for power and begun hurting people?"

"I'll never be called weak again! They'll know weak monsters, and they'll also know true power, all in one fell swoop!"

"Don't you have any remorse for what you've done?!" Rebecca yelled at him. "How many souls have you claimed?!"

"Too many to count," said Weakass with a smile. "Many people have fallen to my weakness. And then when I heard about you following Yugi and his friends from Master Dartz... I couldn't help but seek you out with the aid of Marron here," Weakass commented, gesturing to the robotic dog.

"Your rampage stops here..." said Baron Von Stupor. "You have witlessly trampled over many people in your own childish temper tantrum, and I will tolerate it no longer! I have put you in your place once before, little boy, and I shall do it again! While it weighs heavily on my conscience to do such a thing to a child, I vow I will save the lives you would otherwise destroy! Prepare to meet your fate, Weakass McCass!"

"I'm waiting, Von Stupid man! Come get some!"

* * *

**The impostor Baron Von Engar here more closely resembles the Baron Syndicate Engar than the true Engar (of this story) does, with the exception that Engar does not take any pride in being weak. Fighting is practically everything he knows, and would cave in the face of anyone that dared to call him weak.**


	6. Chapter 6: Miscalculation

**Yaaay! Two hits since last chapter! If I wish real hard, maybe I'll get three hits this time! Get ready for chapter 6!**

* * *

"Chapter 6: Miscalculation"

By: Agent Baron

"I will draw first," Marron spoke. "I will set three M/T cards and summon the Mad Dog of Darkness."

A large, vicious dog bearing a slight resemblance to Marron appeared and snarled at Amy. Around its neck was a collar with a cute bone on it. The monster gave off an aura of melancholy that Amy could feel, deep in her soul.

_What is it about this card that makes me so sad?_ she thought to herself.

"Next I will play 'Card Destruction'," Marron continued. "We will both discard our hands and draw enough cards to replace them. Next I will play 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards. Turn end."

"Come on, Amy! Defeat that stupid robot!" Rebecca cheered from afar.

"I will play 'A Legendary Ocean'! This field magic card will downgrade all WATER-type monsters in our hands and on the field by one level, as well as increase their attack and defense by 300! Also, the card's name is treated as 'Umi'."

Holographic water swarmed across the field, rising to the height of Amy's ankles as an ancient building appeared underneath her, appearing to be located in the murky depths below.

"Understood," Marron affirmed.

"Next, I'll play the magic card 'Hammer Shot', which destroys a monster on your side of the field with the highest attack. Since there's only one, that means your Mad Dog of Darkness is destroyed!"

From nowhere a large hammer slammed down upon the Mad Dog of Darkness. The beast was slammed to the ground and dissipated.

"Now, I can summon my Mermaid Knight without tribute, which has an extra special ability! As long as 'Umi' is face-up on the field, it can attack twice in a row during its Battle Phase! Mermaid Knight, attack Marron with Shine Aqua Slash!"

A red-haired, armored mermaid swam to the surface of the water and leapt out at Marron. It gave Marron a quick slash with its sword, and followed up with a fierce shield to its face, knocking Marron back. It quickly righted itself and jumped back to position.

"Status… Life Points equal 4600. I draw. I will set two M/T and play the magic card, 'Raigeki'. Your Mermaid Knight is automatically destroyed as this card destroys all monsters on your side of the field. Next, I summon the Enraged Battle Ox and attack your Life Points directly."

As lightning struck down Amy's Mermaid Knight, a Battle Ox appeared and swam over to Amy. After putting forth much effort to get its axe in the air, it made a quick chop to Amy's ankles, sending her to her knees and her Life Points to 6300. It then swam back to position.

"I draw…" she said, still in pain from the Battle Ox. "I'll summon the Mother Grizzly—"

"Halt," commanded Marron. "I have a counter. I will activate my trap card 'Ring of Destruction', which destroys your monster and inflicts direct damage to use both equal to its attack. I will also chain onto it 'Barrel Behind the Door', which will take my direct damage and inflict it on you instead."

A large ring with grenades attached to it suddenly dropped onto the newly summoned Mother Grizzly and tightened, restricting it. As this happened, a flare gun appeared and shot its shell at the bear. This caused it to fall towards Amy as the ring exploded, dealing damage to her two fold. Her Life Points dropped to 3100.

"As long as Marron doesn't activate the seal of orichalcos, no one will be hurt in the end…" Rebecca murmured to herself.

"I'll play 'Harpie's Feather Duster' to destroy your final M/T card, and I'll set one of my own," Amy announced.

"I will order my Enraged Battle Ox to attack your Life Points directly," Marron declared.

"Not just yet. I will activate my continuous trap card, 'Tornado Wall'! As long as 'Umi' is on the field, all battle damage from your monsters against mine becomes zero!"

The Battle Ox swam feverishly, but was blown back by the wall of tornadoes that ensnared Amy's side of the field.

"Odds dropping…" Marron observed.

"Now, I draw," said Amy, drawing her next card. "I will play 'Snatch Steal' on your Enraged Battle Ox! This will allow me to control it, although you will gain 1000 Life Points each turn as long as your monster is equipped with it."

A thief burst from her card and swam to the battle ox's card. It looked around casually, then shrank the card down. Shoving it in his pants, he swam awkwardly back to Amy's side of the field and extracted it, loosing it on her end.

"Now I'll use your Enraged Battle Ox to attack your Life Points directly!" Amy commanded.

"I will activate a trap, 'Ojama Trio'. I special summon three Ojama Tokens to my side of the field in defense mode. For every one that is destroyed, however, I lose 300 Life Points."

Three very disgusting monsters appeared on the field and made kissy faces at Amy. Amy shuddered, and ordered the battle ox to attack one of them.

The battle ox swam over and slashed one of them ferociously.

"It is now my turn," Marron mentioned. "Life Points now equal 5300. I will set one monster and play a 'Snatch Steal' on my captured Enraged Battle Ox."

A thief appeared and swam over to the battle ox and began tugging on its arm. The battle ox confusedly obliged while Amy's thief tugged on its tail in vain."

"I draw… and my Life Points change to 4100. I will set one M/T. Next, I remove two WATER-type monsters in my graveyard from play in order to special summon Fenrir! This has a monster has a special effect where if I destroy a monster with this card, you can't draw during your next turn!"

"Unexpected. Your skill level is exceeding my expectations."

"I order Fenrir to attack your Ojama Token!"

Fenrir, riding atop a sea wave, crashed into the Ojama creature, felling it.

"I cannot draw… I will pass this turn," Marron said.

_Is Marron really falling behind this much?_ Amy thought to herself. _I find it hard to believe that a top-tier dueling program would be dueling so poorly…_ "I will play 'Mystical Space Typhoon' on your 'Snatch Steal' card, which will return your Enraged Battle Ox to me!"

A harsh cyclone came and swept up Marron's thief, leaving Amy's pulling on the battle ox's tail. Looking around briefly, it swam back to Amy's side of the field, the thief smiling.

"Next, I'll sacrifice it to tribute summon 'Levia Dragon – Daedalus' and end my turn!"

The Ocean Rumbled as from the depths emerged a giant sea serpent. It leered down at Marron, who did not move.

"There is nothing more that I can do to win this duel. I concede defeat."

All of the holograms faded away and Amy stood, amazed.

"You just… gave up?" she asked.

"No card in my hand could save me, and I was unable to draw," Marron responded. "We will duel again, but next time the odds will be in my favor."

"There was a phrase I heard somewhere… I believe it goes, 'A real duelist doesn't need luck.' Aren't you relieved that you didn't use the 'Seal of Orichalcos' card now? Imagine if you had lost…"

"My loss is of no consequence. I am immune to the darkness of the orichalcos because I have no soul to lose."

"Ah…!" Amy gasped in shock. _I had forgotten! This is just a robot! Doma is sending unbeatable machines to duel people?!_ "You are dueling people where they have everything to lose without any risk to yourself? Doma is truly a despicable organization! Where is the honor in dueling anymore?"

"I am not programmed to honor my opponent, only to gather data, to duel, to win. I follow my orders, nothing more and nothing less."

"That's right… you're a prisoner of your own code… I feel sorry for you, Marron."

"Sorry for me? I do not understand."

"The only reason you are evil is because the person who is controlling you is evil. If your technology could be put to better use, the world could be such a better place."

"I acknowledge that possibility. However, I am programmed for other things, and I must fulfill them."

Just then, everyone noticed Baron Von Stupor shouting at Baron Von Engar.

"You are one large, walking contradiction!" he shouted in frustration.

* * *

**You know, I mainly have Sailor Mercury dueling simply because it's funny. I love the joke, and this is actually an inside joke that comes from my own Yu-Gi-Oh! deck, from which Stupor's original deck is derived. My deck has a Sailor Mercury card in it and my reasons are mirrored by Stupor. It has gotten many a laugh, indeed. Keeping up with Sailor Mercury as a character in my Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction, I figured 'She's smart. Why not let her duel?' Ahaha. Funny.**


	7. Chapter 7: Smackdown

**I was late by a day, oh no! I wonder who noticed, heh. Anyway, an interesting thing about last chapter is that Sailor Mercury was originally supposed to lose. However, as I was scripting the duel with my esteemed associate RadicalR, I inadvertently got dueled into a corner not even card magic could save me from. So, rather than scrap the duel and start over, I just kept it as it was and worked around it. Oops. Guess Sailor Mercury's dueling ability really did save her soul, huh?**

* * *

"Chapter 7: Smackdown"

By: Agent Baron

"You wish for me to get aggressive, Weakass? I suppose now is as good a time as any!" Von Stupor declared. "I will first set one M/T, and then I shall flip summon two of my three set monsters! One is the Trap Master! It has a flip effect that allows me to destroy one set trap card on the field, assuming the card I select is a trap card!"

"No, my 'Soul Resurrection'!" cried Weakass, and a man rose out of Von Stupor's set monster card.

The man has a hat with bear trap jaws and gadgets protruding from under a shawl in every direction and no legs. He hovered to Weakass's set M/T card and gnashed it with a chainsaw coming out from under his shawl. He then returned to his side of the field.

"Next, I'll flip summon the 4-Starred Ladybug of Doom!" Von Stupor Declared, and a giant ladybug emerged. It had four green stars on its carapace in place of black spots. "Its flip effect has no value here, therefore it does nothing. Now, I shall attack you with both monsters!"

The ladybug rammed Weakass shortly before the Trap Master tossed a lit bomb over to him. The bomb exploded, sending Weakass's Life Points to 3900.

"I know how to halt that little team of yours. I'll summon Bokoichi, the Freightening Car!" Weakass declared.

"What kind of a name is that for a card? I think Maximillion Pegasus had a little too much wine the day he thought of that card," Rebecca muttered.

"Don't tease my friend!" Von Stupor shouted back at her. "He says his card ideas are always the best when he's a little tipsy!"

"I'll use Bokoichi to attack your Trap Master!" Weakass announced, ignoring the outside conversation.

A freight train's head car burst from a card and ran over the Trap Master, goring him on the ground underneath and reducing Von Stupor's Life Points to 1000. The train bore a very ugly, grimacing face on the front of it.

"No!" Rebecca cried. "You're almost out of Life Points!"

Von Stupor, sweating, drew his next card.

_This match is growing much too close,_ he thought. _If only I had my original deck..._

"Come on, Von Stupor, you can do it! We have faith in you! Teach this brat a lesson in manners!" Rebecca cheered.

"When I'm done with the stupid guy here, I'm coming for you next, you little brat!" Weakass threatened.

"You better hope Von Stupor finishes you before I get to! I'll make you wish you've never been born!"

"I set one M/T and shift the 4-Starred Ladybug of Doom into defense mode! That ends my turn!" Von Stupor announced.

Drawing, Weakass laughed. "Now you'll feel the true fury of my weak monsters! First I'll summon the Mighty Guard!"

A large, mechanical soldier appeared on the field.

"Next, I'll play 'Machine Duplication' on my Mighty Guard! This allows me to special summon two more cards of the same name from my hand or deck!"

As two more Mighty Guards Appeared on the field, Weakass began to laugh harder. "And now, I'll play a second Machine Duplication on my Bokoichi, allowing me to summon two more Bokoichis to the field!"

"Hey, that's cheating! You can't do that!" Rebecca protested.

"Oh, can't I?" Weakass patronized. "You see, when 'Seal of Orichalcos' is on the field, I can use my M/T zone as a monster card zone as well, which means I can summon as many as ten monsters at once!"

_What?!_ Von Stupor thought in shock.

"And now, behold the horror of my weakling six-monster army! Go, demolish his monsters and the rest of his Life Points!"

"Not so fast! I'll activate Waboku, which reduces all battle damage to zero for this turn! I live still!" Von Stupor countered.

Three priestesses appeared before Von Stupor, and one by one, they fell under Weakass's mighty attack force, consisting of three mighty guards, three freightening cars, and a remaining agent of creation.

"You're delaying the inevitable! There is nothing you can do about my army of weaklings!" Weakass taunted.

"Oh?" Von Stupor patronized upon viewing his next card. "Have you ever heard the phrase, 'Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing?'"

"Uh...?" Weakass grunted in confusion.

"Well... perhaps you'll understand what I mean after I activate my trap, 'Just Desserts'! This card inflicts 500 points of direct damage for every monster you have on the field! That means you take 3500 points directly!"

"What? That's not possible!!"

A large hog-like creature appeared on the field, eating the fried leg of a bird. It glared at Weakass and suddenly, the leg grew to enormous proportions. The creature threw the leg and it bludgeoned Weakass, knocking him entirely off of his feet. His Life Points sank to a meager 900.

"And now, for the final blow!" Von Stupor announced. "I will tribute my set monster to summon the Dark Dust Spirit!"

"W-what? What does that card do?!" Weakass sputtered.

"This card, when summoned, automatically destroys all monsters on the field, except for itself!"

"_No!! This can't be!!_"

"And now I order it to attack you directly, ending this duel!"

A creature rose up from the ground and released a large cloud of sand. The sounds of Weakass's monsters dying were heard, and when the sand cleared, no other monster stood. The spirit itself looked like a bipedal creature clothed in mummy's wrap, and had a wide mouth with sharp fangs, and long, billowing white hair. It drifted to Weakass and stared at him right in the face.

"This duel is finished," Von Stupor uttered, as the spirit gave Weakass a hard slap across the face worth 2200 damage.

Weakass lied on the ground, holding his face.

Von Stupor walked over to Weakass as the seal began to close in on him.

"No... My soul..." he whimpered.

"You poor child. You should have known that when you toy with the souls of others, you in exchange risk your own," Von Stupor said to him. "But I will find a way to return yours to you, just as I will return my friend's. I must!"

A brilliant stream of light engulfed Weakass's body as his soul was extracted. When it all dissipated, he merely laid there without moving.

"In a way, I feel sorry for him..." Amy said quietly.

"He has helped us, at least a little bit," Von Stupor commented.

"How?" asked Rebecca.

"Because now there is a strong chance that Baron Von Engar is also involved with Dartz, if this soldier was impersonating him. That brings me one step closer to rescuing my deck."

Rebecca watched him as he observed Weakass's fallen body.

Just then, the strange, mechanical dog known as Marron approached the group.

"You will be my opponent," it spoke while looking in Amy's direction.

"Over my dead body!" Rebecca interjected, and ran inside the trailer.

"I will not risk her life to you! Duel me instead!" Von Stupor demanded.

"No, duel me!" shouted Rebecca, coming out of the trailer. "I owe you thugs for kidnapping my grandfather!"

Marron looked at both angry duelists, and backed away a step.

"The conditions do not look favorable," buzzed the robot.

Just then, two motorcycles pulled up and parked next to the trailer.

The riders hopped off of the bikes and pulled off their helmets. One of them looked to the group and said, "If you owe all of us thugs for what we did to your grandfather... why not duel all of us instead of just one?"

"What?" Rebecca asked, confused.

"Mecha-Dog Marron here is our reconnaissance robot. We have cameras so we can see through his eyes, and hear what he hears at all times. That's how we heard your comment," explained the second biker.

They both wore the same uniform, except one of them had very short bleach blonde hair, sticking straight out in all directions like a spined ball. The other had black, sloppy hair that hung down over deathly pale skin.

The blonde spoke, "And I said that if you all really want to duel so badly, why don't you all duel against Marron? We'll join in, too." He looked smug.

"Who are all of you?" Von Stupor asked them.

"Well, I won't say we're any of Doma's three horsemen per se, but we're certainly affiliated with the group. Us, along with Weakass here, were under orders to duel and defeat whoever is here and take their soul while the stronger duelists are out at Death Valley, distracted by Raphael's duel with the Pharaoh!"

"Such a dishonorable tactic... is there a true duelist in all of Doma?!" Von Stupor ranted.

"We only follow orders from Master Dartz," said Marron. "Nothing more, nothing less. We do as we're told, without choice. That is the cost of Doma's power."

"All of you work for Doma?" Amy asked them.

The black-haired biker answered, "Yes, we do. And we're here to defeat every last one of you."

"What if we refuse to duel?" Rebecca asked.

"Well, it'd be a shame if Marron here got mad and decided to attack you all."

_I could probably take them, but... I can't afford to risk the lives of Rebecca, Amy, and the professor..._ Von Stupor thought to himself.

"I'll duel," Von Stupor spoke, readying his duel disk.

"I'll duel, too," Amy spoke and entered the trailer. A few moments later she emerged with a duel disk.

"Publicly available?" Von Stupor asked her.

"Tournament," Amy said, winking. "I'm no monkey when it comes to any kind of strategy game, you know."

"Are we doing the right thing?" Von Stupor asked. "Dueling in a three versus three duel means that one of us may very well lose our soul before the battle is over..."

"We're not letting you duel alone or you'll definitely lose, Von Stupor!" Rebecca protested.

Von Stupor nodded, and looked to their new opponents.

"Who are you all, anyway?" he asked.

"I'm Zombie McZombiefeister, soldier for Doma," said the black-haired biker.

"Lighty von Light-Light, Zombie's step-brother and also a soldier for Doma!" answered the blonde.

"I am Mecha-Dog Marron, reconnaissance droid of Master Dartz and expert-level dueling computer," responded Marron.

"I am Baron Von Stupor, vice-president and CEO of Industrial Illusions!" Von Stupor informed them.

"You mean you _were_ vice-president and CEO," Zombie interjected with a snide grin.

"Zombie!" Lighty reprimanded him. "Stop it."

"Just correcting him."

"I am Rebecca Hawkins, U.S. champion duelist!" Rebecca proudly announced.

"I am Amy Anderson, and I… have no memory of my past!" Amy said uneasily.

The six duelists readied their duel disks and prepared to duel.


	8. Chapter 8: War

**Yeah, this duel was not intended to be as massive as it is. It was supposed to be a simple tag-team duel, two versus two. As issues with where characters are and how they're doing kept coming in, it just got more and more complicated. Amy's still here, so she's going to fight. Rebecca's here, she's supposed to fight. Originally, it was supposed to be Stupor and Amy versus Zombie and Lighty. I kinda force myself into including Rebecca, which meant I had to bring Marron back in for a rematch. Or rather, I just figured "I got five duelists in here? Why the hell not add one more and make it even?" So here you go. The biggest duel monsters melee of the story right here, appropriately named Chapter 8: War!**

* * *

Chapter 8: War

By: Agent Baron

"Here's how this duel's gonna work," explained Lighty. "Each team is going to alternate, with one member going, then a member from the opposite team, then the other team, and so on and so forth. We'll keep rotating just like that! And no one can attack with a monster until their second turn, got it?"

Each duelist drew five cards and Zombie took his turn first.

"I'll set one M/T and one monster! That ends my turn," he declared.

"The good thing is that we know what kind of strategy we can expect from these guys based on their names alone," Von Stupor told Rebecca, who stood next to him with Amy to her right. Rebecca nodded in acknowledgment. "If Weevil Underwood uses insects, Rex Raptor uses dinosaurs, Mako Tsunami uses WATER-type monsters and Weakass McCass used weak monsters, I can safely gather that Zombie McZombiefeister must use zombies or DARK-type monsters where his yang, Lighty von Light-Light, would use LIGHT-type monsters."

"Excuse me?" Zombie cut in. "Did I just hear you assume that I use zombies or DARK-type monsters?"

"Er…" Von Stupor shrank back.

"Where do you get off trying to assume what kind of deck I use based on my name? Do you have any idea how stupid that concept is? I'll have you know that my deck is a mix of warriors and spell casters. I don't mind you knowing because I don't intend to lose."

"Boy is my face red…"

"Yeah, it should be. If my name was Transgender McUsed-To-Be-A-Man, would you think I was a woman at some point in my life?"

"Uh… I… don't know…"

"Try to use your head a little, stupid. Or if you were, try not using it anymore, it's obviously defective."

Von Stupor was silent from embarrassment.

"Sorry about Zombie," Lighty commented. "It's become a peeve of his when someone assumes what deck he uses based on his name. Trust me, he gets it a lot."

"I… apologize? I'm sorry," Von Stupor tried his hardest to apologize.

"Humph," Zombie grunted. "Let's duel."

"I… will start by playing 'Tremendous Fire'! This card inflicts 500 points of damage to my entire team's Life Points and 1000 to yours! After that, I will play 'Final Flame', which will inflict 600 points of direct damage to the enemy team!"

A fire suddenly began to rage all about, damaging all players accordingly.

"Out of curiosity, Lighty, what type of deck do you have?" Rebecca asked him.

"What else? I use a LIGHT-type themed deck. Can't you tell?" Lighty answered.

Von Stupor's entire team was silent as they glanced at each other briefly.

"Oh hey, it's my turn," Lighty said. "I'll start by playing 'Pot of Greed', which allows me to draw two cards. Next, I'll set two M/T and summon the Shining Angel!"

From the sky descended an angel to Lighty's field, ready for battle.

"I draw!" Rebecca announced. "Since my opponent controls one monster, I can special summon the Cyber Dragon to the field without tributes! Next, I'll return him to my hand to play 'A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon'! This card will destroy all M/T cards on the field!"

"Wait!" Von Stupor announced. "I will chain onto that move my trap card, 'Hidden Book of Spell'! This card will allow me to take two normal magic cards from my graveyard and shuffle them into my deck!"

"And now finally I'll summon the Luster Dragon, and in accordance to my Cyber Dragon's effect, I can special summon it again without tribute!" Rebecca finished.

Rebecca's field now rumbled with the growls of two very large dragons, one of them mechanical.

"I draw," Marron stated. "I will play 'Pot of Greed to draw two cards. Now I shall set two M/T cards and set one monster."

"I will play the Field Magic Card, 'A Legendary Ocean'!" Amy declared.

Again, an ocean surpassed itself across the entire playing field, only as high as everyone's ankles.

"I'll next summon the 7 Colored Fish and end my turn!" Amy finished.

"Here we go," said Zombie. "Here's where we start attacking, and you start losing. I'll play 'Graceful Charity', which allows me to draw three cards, as long as I discard two from my hand. I'll set one monster and end my turn."

"I will set one monster and end my turn," Von Stupor stated.

"Not the aggressive type I expected you to be. Different strategy now?" Lighty asked him.

"How can you be so calm when you're placing people's very lives at stake, including your own?"

"Practice, ha ha. I set one M/T and one monster, I'll shift Shining Angel to defense mode and end my turn."

"I draw!" Rebecca declared. "I'll play 'Stamping Destruction'! This card destroys one set M/T and inflicts 500 Life Points of damage to the controller of that card as long as I have a dragon-type monster on the field, and I choose Marron's set M/T!"

Rebecca's Luster Dragon then flew over to Marron's field, but just before the dragon destroyed it, Marron activated it.

"I have activated 'Scapegoat'. This quick-play magic card allows me to special summon four Sheep Tokens to the field, except I cannot offer them as tributes."

"You still take the damage, Marron! My card still resolves before yours is sent to the graveyard! And next, I'll sacrifice my Cyber Dragon and Luster Dragon to tribute summon one of my strongest monsters, Guardian Angel Joan!"

The sky then lit up as a magnificent angel descended from the heavens. She had short, red hair, and wings that while outstretched were as wide as Rebecca's entire field. She wore a beautiful, flowing white gown and golden ribbon that seemed to be held up by her aura alone. It looked straight at Marron and pointed at his monster.

"Guardian Angel Joan, attack Marron's set monster with your Holy Sword Strike!"

Joan soared to Marron's field and stabbed her sword clean through the card, revealing it to be a set Mad Dog of Darkness. It was easily destroyed.

_That card again…_ Amy thought.

"Because of Joan's special effect," Rebecca continued. "whenever I destroy a monster and send it to the graveyard with her, I gain Life Points equal to the destroyed monster's attack! That means mine increase to 9400!"

"My turn…" Marron spoke, eternally indifferent. "I will set one M/T card and one monster. End turn."

"Not doing so hot, Marron. You know it's really not a good idea to return to Dartz empty-handed…" Lighty said to him.

"No, I will not return empty-handed."

"I draw," Amy said aloud. "I will summon Star Boy who increases the attack of all WATER-type monsters on my side of the field by 500, and activate my trap card, 'Xing Zhen Hu'. This card allows me to select two M/T cards on the field, and for as long as this card remains, those two cards cannot be activated, and I will choose Marron's only two M/T cards for this effect."

Marron's two M/T cards were sucked into a pot as a box with strange markings attached itself to the top by rope, sealing the M/T cards for as long as it exists.

"They appear to be teaming against me," Marron observed.

"Maybe if you would pull out a decent monster, they wouldn't," Zombie snapped back. "I will set one M/T and summon Chiron the Mage! Next, I'll flip summon a very special monster called the Mystic Swordsman!"

"Be careful, Von Stupor!" Rebecca warned him as Zombie's two monsters materialized onto his field. "That Mystic Swordsman may not look like much right now, but don't let it get too powerful! It can destroy face-down monsters instantly without activating their effect!"

"…Damn it all," Von Stupor muttered as Zombie's Mystic Swordsman slashed his face-down Yomi Ship. "Had its effect activated, it would have destroyed the monster that destroyed it…"

"Hah…" Zombie chuckled. "Next I'll use Chiron the Mage to attack your other face-down monster!"

Chiron, the centaur, swam over to Von Stupor's set monster and it was revealed to be a Trap Master. It quickly threw a bomb into the air, which missed Chiron prior to Chiron clobbering it with its wand.

"You have destroyed my Trap Master! Now I gain the pleasure of destroying one trap card on the field, and I choose yours!"

"No problem, it was just my 'Trap Jammer' anyway. What matters to me is that since it's now my end phase, and I've destroyed a monster on the field with my Mystic Swordsman, he now becomes stronger… he evolves from Mystic Swordsman at level 4 into Mystic Swordsman, at level 6!"

"Gah! Well… I can still match you blow for blow, this once… I play 'Monster Reborn', to revive Rebecca's Cyber Dragon on my field! I will use it to attack your Chiron the Mage!"

The Cyber Dragon materialized onto the field and proceeded to bite down on Chiron's human half, severing it from its horse half as it faded away. Zombie's Life Points dropped to 6100.

"I'll set 2 M/T and end my turn," Von Stupor finished.

"I draw!" said Lighty, looking irritated. "I pass."

"My turn! Draw!"Rebecca announced with determination flaring in her eyes. "I'll play 'Pot of Greed' to draw two more cards… then I'll play 'Graceful Charity' to draw three cards at the cost of discarding two from my hand." Smiling, she continued. "I'll play Monster Reborn to return my Luster Dragon to the field, which will allow me to play the magic card 'Adamantine Soul Revival'! By sacrificing a dragon monster that was just special summoned, I can now special summon the mighty Diamond Head Dragon! This monster's attack becomes the same as the attack of the monster used to summon it plus 1000 points, bringing mine to a grand total of 2900 attack!"

As Rebecca's Luster Dragon faded away, a horrid roar was heard as a mighty green diamond-coated dragon appeared and stared down the enemy menacingly. Both Lighty and Zombie appeared to be very frustrated.

"On my next turn, I'm going to kick some Doma butt!" Rebecca taunted.

"Come on Marron, we have to pull this through!" Zombie said to him.

"I draw and end my turn," said the robot. Zombie and Lighty's expressions sank.

"And now for me!" said Amy, drawing her next card. "I will sacrifice my 7 Colored Fish to tribute summon Mobius the Frost Monarch!"

As the 7 Colored Fish disappeared, a frozen block of ice appeared on the surface of the water as a massive knight materialized on top of it. The knight created a chair of ice on the ice block and sat down in it, observing the field.

"Star Boy, attack the Shining Angel!"

The ugly, one-eyed starfish launched itself at the Shining Angel and bit its head off while it was gaping at the Diamond Head Dragon.

"Destroying my Shining Angel as a result of battle gives me the opportunity to immediately special summon a LIGHT-type monster from my deck with an attack of 1500 or less, and I will choose Mudora!"

As soon as the Shining Angel was destroyed, a massive Egyptian warrior came forth, wearing a mask on his head that resembled that of a pharaoh.

"Mobius!" Amy called. "Attack Lighty's Mudora with Frost Spear attack!"

Mobius created a spear from the frost about him and launched it straight for the Mudora. It impaled the Mudora swiftly, felling it and sending Lighty's Life Points to 5000.

"How is it possible that not one of us has gotten that card yet?" Lighty wondered aloud.

"You are a fool to rely on one card so much to win a duel!" Von Stupor replied.

"Excuse me? It's going to take you a lot more than just a card to get yourself out of the predicament you're in!"

"I draw!" called Zombie. "I order my Mystic Swordsman to attack the Cyber Dragon with your Dancing Blade attack!"

The Mystic Swordsman jumped over to the mechanical behemoth, and as the Cyber Dragon attempted to lunge, the Mystic Swordsman instead jumped up and planted a sword stab right into the creature's head, sending Von Stupor's Life Points to 7300.

"Try to come back from that, Mister Stupor," Zombie antagonized.

"I'll set one monster and end my turn…" Von Stupor said, knowing full well that he would be hearing from the Mystic Swordsman by next turn.

"My turn!" called Lighty. "I play 'Graceful Charity', in order to draw three and discard two. And next, Rebecca, I have a difficult choice for you to make. You see, you have Diamond Head Dragon on the field as well as Guardian Angel Joan… so I'm going to play 'Creature Swap' and let you decide which one you want to give me."

"Wh-what?" Rebecca sputtered.

"That's right. I only have one monster on my side of the field, and trust me; it won't do you very much good. So what's it going to be? Your more powerful monster? Or maybe your most tactfully advantageous monster? Power or strategy? You're gonna have to decide…"

_What will I do…?_ she wondered to herself in panic.


	9. Chapter 9: Chaos

**Wow. I'm really getting punished for trying to insert something table-ish. I apologize for the sloppiness of the score count below. I lost patience with the formatting and said to hell with it. I hope you can adequately make sense of it.**

**Anyway, YES! Two reviewers! I can't wait for further input! I'm not being sarcastic, as sad as it might be, I'm ecstatic about finally having some reviewers. It's been a while since I felt that glee that comes with seeing a review alert and just wondering with baited anticipation what wonderful comments I may or may not have received from you, the reader(s). Haha. ahem Anyway, it's definitely an inspiration to see a new reader. Thanks, all of you who support my work.**

Chapter 9: Chaos

By: Agent Baron

As the six duelists clashed back and forth, monsters came and went, Life Points rose and fell. Every duelist was giving every once of effort they could to the duel, each fighting for his or her own reasons. To the Doma soldiers' dismay, not one of them had drawn the 'Seal of Orichalcos' card. However, the longer this duel stands, the greater the chances of that evil card being drawn will be.

Current state of the duel:

+Zombie McZombiefeister (LP: 6100)

--Monster(s): Mystic Swordsman LV6

--M/T: 1 set M/T

+Lighty von Light-Light (LP: 4800)

--Monster(s): 1 set monster

--M/T: 1 set M/T

+Mecha-Dog Marron (LP: 5000)

--Monster(s): 1 set monster, 4 Sheep Tokens

--M/T: 2 set M/T (both disabled by Xing Zhen Hu)

+Baron Von Stupor (LP: 7300)

--Monster(s): 1 set monster

--M/T: 2 set M/T

+Rebecca Hawkins (LP: 9400)

--Monster(s): Guardian Angel Joan, Diamond Head Dragon

--M/T: none

+Amy Anderson (LP: 7500)

--Monster(s): Star Boy, Mobius the Frost Monarch

--M/T: Xing Zhen Hu, A Legendary Ocean

"I've played my 'Creature Swap' card on you, Rebecca… so what's it going to be?" asked Lighty. "Are you going to lose your Powerful Diamond Head Dragon or are you going to lose your ever-useful Guardian Angel Joan?"

"The last thing I ever want you to do is gain any more Life Points! Take the Diamond Head Dragon!" Rebecca responded with burning determination.

Her Diamond Head Dragon flew over to Lighty's side of the field and his set monster card whisked its way to hers.

"Next I'll play the magic card 'Raigeki' on Amy." Lighty continued. "All of your monsters are now destroyed!"

Lightning shot down and struck both the Star Boy and Mobius, felling them both.

"Now I'll use my new Diamond Head Dragon and attack your Life points directly, Amy!"

Lighty's Diamond Head Dragon made a beeline for Amy, and as it approached her, it swung its tail, striking her hard in the chest and knocking her over. Her Life Points fell to 4600.

"Ah…! I'm in danger!" she cried.

"Don't worry, Amy!" Rebecca assured her. "I'll help you out with this! I summon the Injection Fairy Lily!" A small fairy nurse materialized and waved a syringe about, happily. "By sacrificing 2000 of my Life Points, I can increase the Injection Fairy Lily's attack by 3000 points, bringing it to 3400! Now, I'll order it to attack your Diamond Head Dragon, Lighty!"

"No!" he cried in surprise as the fairy injected itself and bulked up heavily. It gave the dragon a quick one-two punch in the face, and the dragon fell instantaneously.

"Now…" said Rebecca. "I order Guardian Angel Joan to attack your Life Points directly, Lighty!"

Joan soared over to Lighty and sent her sword straight through Lighty. Lighty grabbed his chest in agony, and when she pulled her sword back out, he dropped to his knees from the pressure.

"Arg… only 1500 Life Points left…" he groaned.

"I will draw," Marron announced. "I will sacrifice my set Nimble Momonga in order to tribute summon the Manticore of Darkness."

On the field materialized a massive anthropomorphic lion with rippling muscles. It had the tail of a scorpion and broad black wings protruding from its back. "My Manticore shall attack Amy directly."

Swimming over to Amy, the Manticore slapped her legs out from under her, sending her Life Points spiraling to 2300.

"I draw… and I'll set one M/T card. That ends my turn." Amy said, wincing from the blow.

"My turn!" said Zombie. "I'll summon the Gene-Warped Werewolf!"

"Unbelievable! I didn't know a four-star monster with 2000 base attack points existed!" Amy exclaimed.

From Zombie's duel disk burst a warped creature, only vaguely resembling a wolf. It was white, yet with no fur, and had four arms. It had a dog's ears, sticking straight up, yet no muzzle, and barely any fur covering its eyes. It glared menacingly its foes and hovered above the water by an unseen force. "Ha… all comes with working for Doma! Now I'll use my Mystic Swordsman to attack your face-down monster!"

The Mystic Swordsman leapt over to Von Stupor's set monster and stabbed it fiercely with its sword. Extracting an imp from the card, it disappeared.

"My Spear Cretin's effect doesn't activate…" Von Stupor observed forlornly.

"None of your flip effect monsters stand a chance against my Mystic Swordsman!" taunted Zombie. And as long as you keep defending, I'll keep chopping down your lone monsters, and attacking you directly with my warwolf! Go, my warwolf, and use your feral slash attack!"

The warwolf was nearly unseen as it dashed to Von Stupor. With its four arms, it gave Von Stupor two quick slashes and leapt back to its position in front of Zombie.

"I will play 'Final Flame'!" declared Von Stupor upon drawing. "This card inflicts 600 points of direct damage to the enemy!"

Flames erupted from the ground and engulfed Zombie, Lighty, and Marron, sending their Life Points down to 5500, 900, and 4400 respectively.

"I draw, and summon the Hysteric Fairy!" announced Lighty. "Next, I'll use this monster to attack Amy's Life Points directly!"

"Not so fast!" Amy snapped back. "I'll activate Tornado Wall! This card reduces all Battle Damage done to me to 0, as long as 'Umi' is face-up on the field!"

A mass of tornadoes appeared as the Hysteric Fairy flew towards Amy. As fast as it charged in, it was thrown back out and landed in the water before it could restabilize in the air. Failing to get out of the water, it swam back over to Lighty's field and merely treaded.

"Alright, this is it!" whooped Rebecca. "I'll summon the Fire Princess! This monster has a special that whenever I gain Life Points, my opponent takes 500 points of direct damage!"

A princess appeared on her side of the field, wearing a long red robe and holding a wooden staff. She seemed to emanate small flames all about her body, like an aura. "Now I'll sacrifice 2000 of my Life Points to increase my Injection Fairy Lily's attack by 3000, and I'll attack Lighty's Hysteric Fairy!"

The Injection Fairy Lily bulked itself up once more and drilled its knuckles straight into the hysteric fairy's skull, wasting the rest of Lighty's Life Points.

"What?! How could I lose?!" Lighty roared.

"Now, Guardian Angel Joan! Attack Zombie's Mystic Swordsman to protect Von Stupor's set monsters! This will also restore Life Points to me equal to the attack of your monster!"

Obeying Rebecca, the great angel flew to Zombie's Swordsman and called a bolt of lightning to strike it down while it treaded water.

"Marron!! Where is the Seal of Orichalcos?!" Lighty bellowed.

"It is in the deck. Odds are in favor of drawing it any moment now," Marron unenthusiastically responded.

"Stop talking about odds and just draw it! We can't be wasting our time here!"

"Stop relying solely on that card to win! 'Tis exactly why you lost!" Von Stupor berated him. "Now take your place on the losers' bench as we finish the rest of your friends!"

"You're one to talk about losing, Baron! You can't even put up a decent assault!" Zombie replied.

"I want my deck back from Baron Von Engar!"

Suddenly, Lighty and Zombie appeared surprised.

"You know Engar?" Lighty asked him.

"No, but he sure knows me! I can't figure out what that guy wants from me, but he stole my deck, and I made this one a replacement while I track him down! Is he with Doma?"

"Ha… why should we tell you? Not like it matters anyway. Your soul won't be around long enough to see him or your deck again."

"Why would you say such a thing? What inspired you three to be so evil anyway?"

"We're not the evil ones. You are," Zombie cut in. "We are merely harbingers of a new beginning."

"A new beginning?"

"I have drawn the card," Marron interrupted.

Everyone looked to Marron.

"You finally got it?" Zombie spoke. "Awesome! Now we can finish this duel!"

"I will activate 'Seal of Orichalcos'," Marron continued. "With this card, the odds of victory have now become significantly more favorable."

The all-familiar blue lights lit up the surrounding environment as the remaining five duelists became trapped within its borders.

"Oh, no…" Von Stupor lamented.

"Things are looking much worse for my Life Points…" Amy groaned, as the legendary ocean and tornado wall both faded away with the replacement field magic card, 'Seal of Orichalcos'.

"We can't afford to make any more mistakes…" Rebecca said to herself, well aware of the true danger she now faced.


	10. Chapter 10: Separation

**Hey John, how's it going'? Good to see you again. Boy, this duel took a long while to do. It was massive, complex... particularly here toward the end, since I had a specific way I wanted it to end... and I _still_ had unworkable kinks that I had to just workaround, lol. But I guess the unpredictablility of my duels is one of the perks that comes with the story. Considering that they're unpredictable even to me seems to emanate an aura of authenticity that I like. As if I'm not really scripting the duels, rather the duels are scripting themselves around what should happen for the sake of the story. Anyway, here's chapter 10. Stuff gets good here, methinks.**

"Chapter 10: Separation"

By: Agent Baron

As hard as Von Stupor, Rebecca, and Amy have fought, they couldn't prevent the seal of orichalcos from being played. Fortunately, they managed to eliminate Lighty von Light-Light from the duel, but with the evil card now in play, Marron's brute force advantage might still not be so easily overcome.

Current state of the duel:

+Zombie McZombiefeister (LP: 4500)

--Monster(s): Mystic Swordsman LV6

--M/T: 1 set M/T

+Mecha-Dog Marron (LP: 4400)

--Monster(s): Manticore of Darkness, 4 Sheep Tokens

--M/T: 2 set M/T (both disabled by Xing Zhen Hu), Seal of Orichalcos

+Baron Von Stupor (LP: 5100)

--Monster(s): none

--M/T: 2 set M/T

+Rebecca Hawkins (LP: 7700)

--Monster(s): Guardian Angel Joan, Injection Fairy Lily

--M/T: none

+Amy Anderson (LP: 2300)

--Monster(s): none

--M/T: Xing Zhen Hu, 1 set M/T

"I will now eliminate Amy from the duel," announced the mechanical dog. "I will use my Manticore to attack her Life Points directly."

"Not so fast!" countered Von Stupor. "I activate my 'Skull Lair' trap card! By removing any number of monster cards in my graveyard from play, I may destroy a monster with the same number of stars! Your Manticore is finished!"

A large gate rose between the five remaining duelists, inviting any monster to walk through it. As the manticore charged through it to attack Amy, the gate surged with electricity and struck it down before it could.

"In response, I will shift all of my Sheep Tokens to attack mode and attack Amy directly with them," Marron complied.

The four cute sheep struck Amy from all angles until only 300 Life Points remained.

"Amy!" Von Stupor cried. She looked toward him. "You _will not_ lose your soul!" She nodded and smiled.

"As per my Main Phase," Marron added. "I will send one beast-type monster—that is, one of my Sheep Tokens, to special summon my Manticore of Darkness from the graveyard as per its effect."

The beast shot its fist from the ground and emerged to fight once more.

"Since this match is three versus three, rather than a team having two turns in a row, we will continue to alternate between teams," Zombie informed the other duelists. "This will keep things fair."

Amy nodded and drew a card. "I will play 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards. Next, I'll play 'Reload', which lets me shuffle my hand back into my deck and draw the same number of cards that were in my hand. Now, I'll set one M/T and summon the Tribe-Infecting Virus!" A strange purple haze appeared in front of her. "This monster has a special effect that allows me to once per turn declare any type of Monster and destroy all monsters on the field of that type, and I choose beast-warrior!"

The purple haze suddenly spread out appendages that struck Marron's manticore and Zombie's warwolf in their throats. Clutching their throats, they dropped to their knees, and collapsed in front of their respective duelists, fading.

"That ends my turn," Amy said, triumphantly.

"Don't forget my manticore's special effect," Marron reminded her, sacrificing another Sheep Token to revive the Manticore.

Zombie drew and ended his turn. Von Stupor drew and set one monster prior to ending his turn.

"I will attempt to eliminate Amy from the duel. I will set two M/T cards and then attack her Tribe-Infecting Virus with my manticore," Marron stated.

"I was waiting for you to try that!" spouted Amy. "I activate my trap card, 'Mirror Force'! This negates your attack and destroys all of your monsters in attack position, which includes your Sheep Tokens! Now you can't bring your Manticore of Darkness back!"

The manticore rushed Amy but was struck back by an unseen force. The manticore, from the force, exploded and it parts flew by and smashed through the remaining two sheep.

"Okay Marron, you're going down!" taunted Rebecca. "I'll set one M/T and attack your Life Points directly with Guardian Angel Joan!"

"I have a trap card," Marron stated. "It is the Ojama Trio, which special summons three Ojama Token to my field in defense position. Each one that is destroyed inflicts 300 points of damage to my Life Points."

"That's fine. I'll use all three of my monsters to attack your Ojama Tokens, then!"

Between being pummeled, stabbed, and scorched, Marron's Ojama tokens stood no chance under the might of Rebecca's monsters. Their effect reduced Marron's Life Points to 3500.

Hitting a dry spell, Zombie merely set a monster during his turn, as did Von Stupor and Marron, with Amy instead setting one M/T card.

"My turn again…" said Zombie. "and I will summon Zanji, of the Six Samurai! I order it to attack Amy's Tribe-Infecting Virus!"

"Way to go, brother!" Lighty shouted. "Take them down!"

A samurai appeared before Zombie, and twirled his sword with such might that it split the haze apart into a thin fog. It then loosed a mighty slash, which dispersed the haze once and for all, cutting Amy's Life Points to a dangerous 100.

Rebecca sweated beads while Von Stupor firmly clenched his free hand. "Rebecca shakily drew her next card. "You're going down, you stupid machine," she mumbled. "I order Joan to attack your set monster, Marron!"

Joan flew over and gave the card a fierce slash, revealing it to be a Sangan.

"Sangan's effect allows me to pull a monster with an attack of 1500 or more to my hand from my deck," Marron commented.

"That won't help you! I order my Fire Princess to attack your Life Points directly!"

Rebecca's Fire Princess shot a fierce flame towards Marron, reducing his Life Points to 1700.

"…And now to finish you off with my Injection Fairy Lily!"

"Not quite," Marron interrupted her. "Because of Joan's special effect, you gained 1000 Life Points, bringing yours to 8700. That provides a 7000 point difference between our Life Points and allows me to activate my hidden trap card."

"No, that can't possibly be—"

"I will activate my trap card, 'Self-Destruct Button'. This card reduces both of our Life Points to zero. Two souls are better than three, if it will protect one of our own team."

Marron's field then faded and he dashed into a lunge toward Rebecca. As he reached her, he then produced a massive explosion, knocking both of them across the area. The Seal of Orichalcos then fizzled, and produced a deafening boom as it broke.

Von Stupor and Amy looked about, confused as Rebecca sat up.

"In the result of a tie, neither player loses their soul," Zombie informed them. "And because Marron is eliminated, the seal of orichalcos is no longer in play… that is, until I draw it."

Marron returned to his feet and took a spot near Lighty.

"Now, I draw!" announced Zombie. "I will play the magic card 'Wave-Motion Cannon'!"

_Oh, no!_ Von Stupor said aloud. _Only one turn and then Zombie can destroy Amy at any time!_

"Next," Zombie continued. "I'll sacrifice my two set monsters to tribute summon the Destruction Cyclone!"

Suddenly, the air kicked up around them as the winds swirled to form the shape of a reptilian creature.

"This monster destroys all non-WIND-type monsters when destroyed as a result of battle, so you may want to think twice before trying to attack me, heh!" gloated Zombie. "Now, I could destroy Amy here… or I could try to keep you alive long enough for me to get my 'Seal of Orichalcos' out! Not to mention you're not much of a threat, while Von Stupor here has two set monsters! I'm going to attack both of his monsters with my Destruction Cyclone and Zanji!"

The wind reptile scooped up Von Stupor's virtual card in its mouth and he watched as its contained 8-Claws Scorpion was ripped to shred in the searing winds. At the same time, Zanji has already slashed and felled Von Stupor's set Muka Muka.

"What are you going to do now, huh? Ha ha ha!" Zombie cackled. "I'll take all of you down!"

"I'll play 'The Dark Door'! Now only one monster may attack per turn!" retorted Von Stupor after drawing.

"Bwa hah… fine. I'll play 'The Warrior Returning Alive', which allows me to return one warrior-type monster to my hand from the graveyard. Next I'll send Zanji to the graveyard to tribute set one monster. Now, my Destruction Cyclone, attack Von Stupor's Life Points directly!"

The wind creature immersed Von Stupor in itself, blowing his cope all about. The cope shook him back and forth until it finally flopped over his head, knocking him entirely over and sending his Life Points plummeting to 3300.

"Your turn… Amy," said Zombie with a sinister grin.

"No…" said Amy, with a smile. "Von Stupor will be the one to take you down."

Zombie and Von Stupor both looked at her oddly.

"Von Stupor… I hope you understand that we don't know when Zombie will get that card, or if he will… and with only 100 Life Points left, it would be a huge gamble to stay in this duel…" she said to him.

"A gamble I do not wish to take," Von Stupor agreed. "I will finish this!"

"I quit, Zombie. I concede defeat."

"What?! Then I get to take my turn again! It will be uneven!" Zombie insisted.

"Then allow me to take her place. You and I, one on one!" Von Stupor proposed.

"Ha ha ha… fine. Let's go, Stupor!"

"I will summon the 8-Claws Scorpion, and attack your face-down monster! This monster's special effect increases its attack to 2400 during the damage step of the Battle Phase when it attacks a face-down defense position monster!"

A large, mechanical scorpion appeared and struck quickly at Zombie's set monster. It was his Mystical Swordsman, felled instantly.

"As per the second part of my monsters effect, once during my Main Phase, I can flip it back to face-down defense position!" Von Stupor finished.

Drawing his next card, Zombie looked at Von Stupor with malice.

"I don't understand why you keep fighting. Sure, you're taking down a pretty efficient offense of mine, but I still have my Wave-Motion Cannon, ready to fire at you at any time," he taunted.

"I still have two more turns," Von Stupor stated calmly.

"Hah… I can see why you're so powerful a duelist. Well… let's see exactly who gets the last laugh, shall we? I will play my 'Seal of Orichalcos'!"

Von Stupor's nerves tensed up as the seal made its way down once more.

_I was hoping I could end this before it came out again…_ he thought to himself woefully.

"Now I'll order my powered up Destruction Cyclone to attack your face-down monster!" Zombie stated.

The Destruction Cyclone flattened the 8-Claws Scorpion and hurled its pieces far away with its mighty winds.

"Turn one, Von Stupor! Let's see your magic," Zombie jeered.

"I'll set one monster and end my turn."

"Is that all you do? Play defense? I set one M/T. Destruction Cyclone, crush that monster!"

Suddenly, the Princess of Tsurugi burst from her respective card and launched two diamond daggers at Zombie, striking him for 1000 points of damage. She was quickly caught by the Destruction Cyclone and torn apart.

"Turn two," said Von Stupor. "I set one monster and end my turn."

"All that deck does is defend, defend, defend! You need to get aggressive!"

"I need my damned deck back, shut up!"

"Waaah, time's up! Ass! I will now fire my Wave-Motion Cannon, which by now is ready to deal 4000 points of damage!"

"But to whom? I activate my trap card, 'Barrel Behind the Door'! This card takes any damage dealt to me as the result of an effect and inflicts it on the opponent instead!"

"_What?!_" Lighty roared, standing up. "_Zombie, tell me you have a counter!_"

"Defense, defense, defense," Von Stupor mocked Zombie as he stood, quaking.

"N… no…" he muttered as the decorative cannon before him began to shake uncontrollably. A crack suddenly burst in it, facing him, and the full charge of it shot out the other end, knocking him into the orichalcos boundary and bouncing him off of it. He made a hard prat fall and laid there, defeated.

"Your Life Points have been eliminated, Zombie. And as a result for your reckless decisions, you have now lost your soul," Von Stupor said to him, the boundary beginning to close on him and passing through Von Stupor.

Von Stupor then turned and pointed at Lighty. "As for you, your reckless decision-making has caused you to lose your own step-brother. Are you proud of yourself? Staking your souls for something so foolish?!"

The light cleared and Zombie's body simply laid on the ground. Lighty picked it up in shock as Rebecca and Amy went to Von Stupor's side.

"I believe there is a way to capture these taken souls, Lighty," Von Stupor said to him. "Surely something such as this can be undone. Join us, and I believe we can get your brother back! Come with us, Lighty. You'll be a valuable asset to out team…"

Lighty, holding his brother flashed an evil glare at Von Stupor through tear-stained eyes.

"No…" he said, pushing Von Stupor away. "Get away from me! You can't get souls back when they're taken by the orichalcos! They all become food for the great beast! They're gone! Gone! And I'll take yours, too! I'll take yours too, you bastard! You wait and see!"

Lighty loaded Zombie's body onto his motorcycle and called to Marron prior to taking off, leaving the second motorcycle behind.

"We've successfully fended off some soldiers of Dartz, but… they will undoubtedly be back…" Von Stupor worried.

"I worry, though… that if souls could be returned… wouldn't they return the souls of henchmen they had lost?" Amy postulated.

"Let us not think of that right now. Our main focus is finding out where Dartz is located."

Just then, in the distance, the three heard a car coming. As it came closer, they all recognized it to be Duke's car, returning with Yugi.

When they arrived back, they all bore a very solemn expression on their faces.

"What's the matter?" asked Rebecca. "Why do you all look so down? Didn't Yugi win?"

"No, he didn't win," answered Joey. "Yugi's gone."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Amy. "How could Yugi lose if he's standing right...?"

Suddenly, it dawned on everyone there exactly which Yugi was gone.

"Oh, boy," muttered Von Stupor.

* * *

**Boy was I glad to have this over with. Though... some of the duels in the future had me racking my brain harder, I'll admit. You'll see. /**

**Admittedly, I miss doing these duels. It was mind-racking, but it was fun and the end results were very much worth it to me.**


	11. Chapter 11: Grievance

Chapter 11: Grievance

By: Agent Baron

A tragedy had stricken as Téa, Rebecca, Amy, and Von Stupor learned that while Yami lost the duel, Yugi had sacrificed his own soul to protect that of Yami. This was strategically advantageous for the duelists yet still depressing, as they had lost a dear friend and comrade. The entire group exuded universal melancholy, but still tried their hardest to keep each other's spirits up.

Universally, the only information they had managed to uncover about the secret organization Doma was that they were somehow linked to the mythical civilization of Atlantis.

"It's quite obvious what we gotta do," said Joey to the group. "We need to track these punks straight down to the source, and destroy that secret weapon of theirs."

"We can't do this alone though, Joey," Téa argued. "I want to help Yugi too, but we need help."

"That's not very possible," said Rebecca while looking up from her laptop, which she had been typing on the whole time. "Without any hard proof, there is no way anyone is going to believe our story."

"But what about the ruins that Professor Hawkins had discovered?"

Von Stupor clapped his hands together in excitement, and everyone looked at him oddly.

"What?" he asked. "This is all news to me. I'm rather excited to learn about Atlantis!"

"That's right…" Yami stated. "Baron Von Stupor doesn't know anything we've learned about until after we visited Industrial Illusions."

"Baron Von Stupor," Professor Hawkins said to him. "I had been researching the civilization of Atlantis my entire life and had finally managed to uncover its ruins. I had discovered writings on it, and made copies of the inscriptions to further research. All I can remember about the writings is that Atlantis was one of the most technologically advanced civilizations known to man, but it was completely destroyed when a great beast was called forth by an evil king. They were said to have drawn their power from an odd stone, and this stone drew its power from another world."

"You think that stone is those weird rocks are that they wear around their necks?" Joey asked.

"It's possible…"

"Unfortunately for us, the ruins are gone. Someone destroyed them," Rebecca chimed in, pointing at her laptop.

"Someone ruined the ruins?" Téa asked.

"It's like they're one step ahead of us all the way!" Duke ranted. "Why would they even destroy their own ancestors' ruins in the first place?"

"I would suspect that they're trying to hide something about their past," answered the professor. "You're right to look to the ruins for answers, but you don't have to worry. I can help you find the information you need. I know where the copies of the inscriptions are located. They're in Florida, where I was doing my underwater research."

"If that's all we gotta do, then let's get going!" exclaimed Joey. "Let's get to Florida and start translating those inscriptions!"

"Yeah, but how are we going to get there?" asked Tristan.

"I know a dear friend who can help us!" Von Stupor interrupted.

"Who would that be?"

"Good ol' Kaiba! We can rely on him for anything!"

"Yeah, as long as you're only relying on him to put you beneath his majestic pedestal," Joey commented.

"I suppose it's worth a shot," Téa sighed.

After setting up Rebecca's webcam, they sent a video call to Kaiba's personal office line. After a few brief moments, he answered.

"What are you doing calling me?" he answered grumpily, glaring at Von Stupor.

"I wish I was scratching my nose. I have a heck of an itch in there!" Von Stupor replied. "So, how's your love life lately?"

"How did you even get my personal line?"

"I take a few liberties here and there. As your friend, I should expect you to be only a little disturbed."

Kaiba began to hang up his phone when Von Stupor called his name multiple times, frantically.

"What do you want? I don't have all day!" he ranted.

"I would like to borrow some type of flight device. A helicopter is slow, but will do if no others are available. Personally, I wouldn't mind giving your Blue-Eyes White Jet a whirl!"

"No."

"Please?"

On hearing that simple word, Kaiba appeared frightened of him and hung up the phone forcibly.

"Kaiba? Friend?" Von Stupor called. "He must be hungry. I suppose we're out of luck there."

Everyone stared at Von Stupor with exasperated looks on their faces.

Sighing, Rebecca said, "I'll book us a flight, and we'll take a train to the airport."

"For the sake of everyone's safety, I say it's best that Rebecca and the professor stay here while we go and hunt down those inscriptions!" Joey proposed.

Rebecca nodded forlornly.

"Yeah, gramps," she said to him. "It's not good for you to be moving all over the country."

"Duke, why don't you stay here with the professor, too?" Tristan suggested, Duke nodding in agreement.

"I just hope we can get there in time to save Yugi…" lamented Rebecca.

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

While on the crowded train, Tristan and Joey had managed to make themselves happy by locating the diner car while Téa made vain attempts at idle conversation to cheer Yami up, or at the very least take his mind off of his lost friend for a few minutes. Amy was examining the scenery from another car on the second floor.

"I would like to drop a few friends off at the pool," Von Stupor mentioned to Joey and Tristan as they enjoyed their food.

"What? What about a pool?" Joey wondered aloud.

"I wanna poop."

"…Oh. Uh… restroom's thataway," Joey motioned toward the car's restroom and resumed eating, albeit slower.

Von Stupor happily marched to the restroom. While inside, he suddenly noticed the train braking. The force from it pushed him around and he ultimately fell aside. After he finally managed to crawl back out of the restroom, he was not happy to see that either end of the train was missing. He peeked outside and saw only desert on either side of the tracks, stretching for what seemed like forever. Hopping out of the train, he began to backtrack on the train tracks until he heard a familiar, yet sinister laugh from on top of the train.

"What's the matter, Von Stupor? Did you miss the bowl?" asked the voice.

Von Stupor turned to see his former opponent, Lighty von Light-Light.

"Lighty? You did this?" he asked.

"It was a joint effort between myself, Rex Raptor, and Weevil Underwood."

"Those boys…?"

"Yeah. Anyway, you and I have a little score to settle, you know."

Lighty jumped down from the top of the train. He landed with such force that his legs could not stop him and he tumbled forcibly onto his back. Groaning, he returned to his feet and had a slight limp for a few paces toward Von Stupor before regaining his full stride. From behind the train car emerged Marron.

"A score to… you mean Zombie McZombiefeister?" Von Stupor asked.

"Yeah… my step-brother… you took him away from me."

"He took himself away!"

"_You were responsible for him losing his soul!_ You landed the killing blow on him! I'm here for revenge. Let's duel!"

"No, I don't want to. Let's eat instead—"

"You want that deck back?"

"My deck?"

"Yeah. Engar's got it. He's definitely one of the henchmen of Doma. If you can beat me in a duel… I'll tell you where you can find him. Deal?"

Lighty readied his duel disk.

After deliberating the situation, Von Stupor responded, "I don't think my deck is worth the soul of another person…"

"Duel me, Stupor! I'd to hate to ask Marron to eat somebody, you know… maybe that pretty girl that was with you… Amy, was it? Or maybe I can go for Téa…"

"You leave them out of this! This is our affair!"

"Then face me, Stupor!!! Let's settle our score, now!!!"

"Why must you do these things to yourselves…?" Von Stupor thought out loud sadly as he readied his duel disk.

**Ooh, emotions are flaring in this one! Lighty thought he had Stupor, but Stupor's just a tad too noble. Sorry for not posting Wednesday, I just completely forgot. I'll still post another chapter Sunday though... assuming I remember to.**

**Lighty's an interesting guy. I kinda developed his personality with Zombie as I went. Couldn't think of any real plans for them thus far save the ultimate results of the 3v3 duel. Come to think of it, I kinda did the same with Weakass. The Baron Syndicate Engar's personality really seemed to suit him so perfectly, although I developed his personality unintentionally similar. o__o; Anyway, hope you enjoyed chapter 11, prepare for another installment... the day after tomorrow! Yay!  
**


	12. Chapter 12: Pain

**"YOU MURDERED MY (_insert family title here_)!" How often has that been used? Heh, heh. Yes, time for the fated, foreshadowed rematch between Baron Von Stupor and Lighty von Light-Light! What's interesting is that this is the first duel I had documented when I originally began writing the fanfiction (before I stopped for an exorbitant amount of time). __; The second was the 3v3 duel (that I had lost [and thusly gone on hiatus]). Anyway, I can't think of anything else to say, so here's chapter 12.**

"Chapter 12: Pain"

By: Agent Baron

Von Stupor, now at the mercy of the deranged and grieving Lighty von Light-Light, was forced into a duel with him to even the score. His confidence would be higher had he possessed his original deck, but unfortunately he is once again forced to use weaker cards from his miniscule collection. By his honor, he must fight.

"I'll go first," said Lighty. "I'll first set one M/T and play 'Graceful Charity', so that I may draw three cards and discard two. Next, I summon the Hysteric Fairy!"

The snooty fairy appeared on the field and adjusted her glasses prior to putting her hand on her hip and staring down Von Stupor.

"I'll set one M/T and end my turn," Von Stupor grumbled.

"I'll do the same, Von Stupor. You know, unlike my brother, I know the true strategy behind your deck. It's nothing but defense, defense, but that's because dueling isn't always about offense. I'll end this turn without attacking."

"I'll set one M/T and summon the Servant of Catabolism! This monster is allowed to attack your Life Points directly. Go, my servant, attack Lighty's Life Points directly!"

A beady eyed mollusk appeared, with a clear blue snail shell attached firmly to it. Seen through the shell, various colored spheres floated about inside it. Suddenly, the monster fired one of the spheres and struck Lighty square in his chest, knocking his Life Points down to 7300.

"I'll set one M/T and end my turn…" Lighty mumbled, staring down Von Stupor. His snide face had disappeared.

"I will set one M/T card and play 'Mask of the Accursed' on your Hysteric Fairy! This card restricts your monster from attacking, and during each of my Standby Phases, you will lose 500 Life Points!"

Suddenly, an ugly tribal mask shot from nowhere and planted itself on the Hysteric Fairy. The mask was green and many multicolored lines swirling about it. In many places, there appeared to be nails partially hammered in. The Hysteric Fairy grabbed at the mask and tugged fiercely, but couldn't remove it.

"Next, I order my Servant of Catabolism to attack your Life Points once more!" Von Stupor commanded.

Obediently, the bizarre creature lobbed another colored sphere, bouncing it off of Lighty's head, sending his Life Points to 6600.

"Alright, I'm tired of this. I'll sacrifice my Hysteric Fairy to tribute summon the Airknight Parshath! That destroys your 'Mask of the Accursed', and I'll use my monster to attack your servant!"

A majestic knight adorned with patterns of wings about his armor appeared on the field and challenged Von Stupor's odd creature. As it began to launch an attack, it suddenly leapt into a large cylinder.

"I shall activate my trap," Von Stupor announced. "'Magical Cylinder', this card negates your attack on me and inflicts it instead as direct damage to your Life Points!"

"What the…?!" Lighty sputtered. As he looked to his side, another cylinder had situated next to him. His monster burst from it and slashed him across his chest. Bearing a surprised expression, it returned to its place on the field.

"This… this is impossible!" Lighty growled, furious. "How are you doing this so easily?!"

_Maybe… maybe this deck isn't so bad after all. It is fighting quite hard, even without the benefit of high attacking monsters,_ Von Stupor thought. _Regardless, as Yugi said, I should believe in my monsters with all my might! Liver of the cards, guide me!_ "I will set one more monster and order my monster to attack your Life Points directly!"

Another sphere lobbed at him, his Life Points sank to a scant 3500.

"This is where things turn around for you, Von Stupor!" Lighty taunted. "I will activate 'Seal of Orichalcos'! We'll see how powerful your ragamuffin replacement deck matches against the powers of the orichalcos! I will set one monster and end my turn!"

"First, I'll activate my trap card, 'Needle Wall'! Monsters on your side of the field are numbered from my right to my left one through five. During each of my Standby Phases, I will roll a die, and the monster that has the resulting number is destroyed! On a six, I roll again."

The evil seal of orichalcos made its design and lowered itself into play, pushing the train car off of its rails as a number one appeared above the set card on Lighty's field. On either side of the card, a pair of walls appeared, lined with needles, begging Von Stupor to roll the correct number.

_And here, I take the offensive!_ Von Stupor thought to himself. "I will flip-summon my set monster, Jowls of Dark Demise! It allows me to take control of one of your monsters for the turn Jowls of Dark Demise is summoned! Also, the monster I control may attack your Life Points directly! Next, I will flip summon your Neo the Magic Swordsman and play 'United We Stand' on my servant, increasing his attack by 800 points for every face-up monster I control, bringing it to a grand 3100! Now, I'll attack you directly with all three monsters and I want my deck back!"

A purple fog appeared over the field and mysterious jaws emerged from it, consuming the set card on Lighty's field. Dragging it back to Von Stupor's field, a stone warrior resembling a six-headed male Shiva emerged from it. As both the jowls and the Neo lent the servant some of their power, all three of them launched a strike that fell short of a field generated by three robed priestesses who appeared to defend Lighty from being defeated.

"What's this?! 'Waboku'?" asked Von Stupor, surprised.

"Yes, I activated my 'Waboku' trap card," Lighty admitted, calmly. "I'm not out yet."

"Blast…"

"I won't let you beat me… I must avenge my brother! I will play 'Raigeki', which will destroy every monster on your side of the field!"

Lightning shot down onto the field, exploding both Von Stupor's Servant of Catabolism and his Jowls of Dark Demise.

"Now," Lighty continued. "As you should be aware, my magic swordsman gains a 500 point attack boost from 'Seal of Orichalcos'! I order it to attack your Life Points directly!"

"Not yet! I activate 'Gravity Bind'! All monsters of Level 4 or higher cannot attack!"

Neo leapt at Von Stupor for a mighty attack, but the sudden gravitational force slammed it hard to the ground.

"And now, for my turn, I shall summon yet another Servant of Catabolism! Next, I'll play the magic card, 'Mage Power'! This increases a monster's attack by 500 points for every M/T card on my side of the field! My servant's attack power increases to 2700! I will attack you directly with my servant!"

"And I'll destroy that stupid monster again with 'Sakuretsu Armor'! This destroys any one attacking monster!"

Suddenly a spiked suit of armor appeared on Lighty. Using the armor, he blocked the sphere that shot at him, reflecting it back at the servant, felling it.

"I'll next set one M/T and summon the Mask of Darkness! I order it to attack your Life Points directly!" Lighty declared.

A plain, yet evil mask appeared on the field and glared at Von Stupor with glowing red eyes. It shot at him quickly, striking him in the stomach and lowering his Life Points to 6600.

"This marks the turnaround of this duel," Lighty commented, and ended his turn.

Von Stupor simply set one monster and ended his turn.

"I'll summon the Magician of Faith and end my turn," Lighty announced as a young robed girl, appeared onto the field with a number over her head as per Needle Wall.

As Von Stupor drew his next card, a loud crash was heard and Neo had been impaled by the Needle Wall card. Lighty sneered as Von Stupor set one monster, ending his turn.

"I'll summon the Shining Angel and end my turn," Lighty said, a robed angel descending from the sky as a number appeared above its head.

"I will flip summon my Needle Worm, which will send the top five cards on your deck into the graveyard! Next, I tribute it to summon 'Marie the Fallen One'!"

Just then, out from the ground crawled an angel with black skin, wearing a pink dress. It smiled coyly at Lighty's Shining Angel.

"I order Marie to attack the Mask of Darkness!" ordered Von Stupor.

En route, however, Lighty jumped in the way, wearing another set of Sakuretsu armor, and intercepted Marie with a hard chop to her throat, felling her.

"You're not getting away, Von Stupor. You're falling right into my plan," Lighty said to him.

"Plan?" Von Stupor asked, curious.

"I set one M/T and summon a second Hysteric Fairy. That ends my turn… ha ha."

"This should disrupt things!" Von Stupor announced. "I shall flip summon 'Morphing Jar #2'! Because I have flip summoned this monster, we now must return all cards on the field to their respective decks and shuffle them. We then draw until we have the same number of monster cards that were returned, and all other cards are sent to the graveyard! Special summon all level four or lower monsters that you drew in face down defense position! I set two monsters by Morphing Jar #2's effect, and I set one more and end my turn!"

"Ahaha… you have just helped me, Von Stupor. That little replacement deck of yours has ensured your defeat!"

"Oh…?"

"I'll flip summon all of my monsters! Asura Priest, Shining Angel, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, and Mudora! Manju's effect allows me to bring a ritual magic or ritual monster card to my hand from my deck! Next I'll play the ritual magic card, 'Shinato's Ark'! By sacrificing two weaker monsters from my hand, I am able to ritual summon my ultimate monster, Shinato, King of a Higher Plane!"

Von Stupor quaked as from the heavens, a great monster fell. A blue plated humanoid white-robed giant, with four wings of gold. It stared at him with unforgiving eyes. Behind it were the remaining four units of Lighty's horrific troop.

"You still can't attack because my Gravity Bind is in play!" Von Stupor reminded him.

"I know that!" he cackled. "That's why I'll activate my 'Dust Tornado' trap card! This destroys one magic or trap card on the field, and allows me to set one of my own! I choose your 'Gravity Bind'!"

A massive dust storm arose and carried Von Stupor's 'Gravity Bind' away into the sky.

"Asura Priest has a special effect, too, you know…" Lighty said with a despicable grin.

The Asura Priest looked upon Von Stupor eerily. It appeared to be a warrior of stone, modeled after the Indian goddess Shiva.

"Asura Priest is also allowed to attack all monsters on the field at once… _Attack, my priest!_" Lighty roared.

Using its two mighty sets of arms, it destroyed both of Von Stupor's set monsters, which turned out to be Yomi Ships. Before they went down, their curse managed to inflict mortal wounds on the Asura Priest. It mysteriously split open and crumbled to pieces.

"Oh, I know those cards," Lighty said to him. "They destroy the monster that destroyed it. Hah… looks like only one of my monsters goes down for this circumstance, however…"

Von Stupor was silent.

"That leaves all of my other monsters… and here, you have no more monsters on the field, and no more face-down M/T cards. My monsters' attack power reaches 7800, you know. Did you know that you have just lost the duel?"

"Before you attack… may I ask you a question?" Von Stupor asked him.

"Hmmm… you know… I guess I could grant you that much."

"If you succeed… and you bring about this new beginning… what with reviving your 'great beast'… do you think you will be spared?"

Lighty stepped back, shocked. He pondered the question for a moment, then appeared visibly insulted. "My monsters, _attack!!!_"

All at once, Lighty's monsters rushed Von Stupor. They pummeled, blasted, and slashed his Life Points all the way down to zero. The monsters then faded from the duel, and the seal of orichalcos closed in on Von Stupor's fallen body. A great beam of light shot up from the seal, and before long, all that laid was a lifeless body.

Approaching the body, Lighty extracted Von Stupor's deck from his duel disk.

"Hah. You won't be needing this anymore," he said to the empty shell and left, headed back for the headquarters.

* * *

**OH GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE?! "You beast!" is what you're probably thinking. Unfortunately, I had to end the story somehow. Sorry it ends on such a bitter note, though. Seemed like the noblest way. I let my stories write themselves to an extent, and so even my surprise, that's just how it went. =/**


	13. Chapter 13: Dibs

**Ha ha ha... how many of you saw through that? Nah, the story doesn't end there. Here's the epilogue. ;)**

**You might (or might not) notice I posted this on a Tuesday. It's because I don't care. I have about two faithful readers right now, maybe three at best and I doubt I'll have anyone reading this except the friend I'm talking to before midnight hits anyway.**

"Chapter 13: Dibs"

By: Agent Baron

Arriving back at Doma's headquarters, Lighty approached Dartz.

"I managed to get rid of the weird one with the mask," he said to him.

"Ah, yes… Baron Von Stupor," replied Dartz, pleased. "That's quite a feat. He even tied with the Pharaoh in the Battle City tournament sponsored by KaibaCorp."

"Yes, but he seemed to be weaker since then. He claimed that Baron Von Engar stole his deck."

"Our Engar stole Mr. Von Stupor's deck?"

"I don't know for sure. I didn't really care, as you can see. Regardless, I managed to gather one of the toughest duelists out there. For you, Master Dartz."

"I'm very appreciative of this, Lighty. You have done well. Now try to bring me the soul of the Pharaoh."

"Understood, Master."

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

As Lighty walked out of the building and onto the helicopter pad, he was suddenly punched in the face by Baron Von Engar who had been lying in wait. Reeling, Lighty turned to face Engar.

"What the hell is that for?!" Lighty asked in complete shock.

"_Stupor was mine!_" Engar responded, and shoved Lighty again.

"Yours?! I do what Master Dartz tells me! He comes before you any day!"

"Stupor was _mine!!!_" Engar said again, attempting another punch. Lighty blocked it, ready this time.

Lighty shoved Engar backward some and put up his fists.

"You wanna fight, mask-boy? Come on, you're not so tough.!" Lighty taunted.

"Why did you take him down? He was mine! _Mine!!!_"

"He took my brother!"

"Your _step-_brother!"

"What the…?! Why the hell do you hate him so much?"

"Duel, now."

Engar readied his duel disk.

"What?!" Lighty was confused.

"I can't have Stupor, so I'll take you instead. Come on, I don't have all day."

Lighty stared at him angrily for a moment, then readied his duel disk.

"You're gonna be sorry, Engar. Real sorry," Lighty warned.

"You think so, huh?" Engar asked. "Let's see what my 'Seal of Orichalcos' has to say about that!"

"Already?!" Lighty sputtered as the seal lowered itself onto the battlefield.

"I summon the Great Angus and end my turn! Because of the attack boost, his attack points grow to 2300!"

The large red quadrupedal beast materialized in front of Engar, staring him down. Embers drooled from its mouth.

"Well, I'll play the 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards, and summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands!" Lighty responded, appearing unshaken. "It's effect allows me to bring a ritual magic or ritual monster card to my hand from my deck!"

"Stupid ritual monsters. They're all overused!" Engar ranted. "I summon 'The Thing in the Crater'! Next, I'll use the Great Angus to attack Manju!"

A hole appeared in front of Engar and embers floated about it as red light billowed out. Sinister sounds could be heard from inside. The Great Angus rushed at Manju, but was blocked by Lighty, bearing the Sakuretsu Armor. Lighty gave the monster a fierce punch in the snout and it exploded.

"You and that damn 'Sakuretsu Armor' card," Engar complained. "I'll use the thing in the crater to attack Manju!"

A spray of lava sprayed from the hole and sprinkled across Manju, melting it to pieces.

"Hah. You only reduced my Life Points by 100 points," Lighty said.

Ignoring him, Engar continued. "I'll play 'Premature Burial', sacrificing 800 Life Points to return my Great Angus to the field."

The Great Angus emerged from the ground, and growled menacingly at Lighty.

"You'd better be careful…" Lighty said to him. "If I destroy that equipped 'Premature Burial', your monster will go down with it."

"I know what my cards do, you ass!"

"Hah. I set one monster and end my turn."

"I'll summon Gaia Soul the Combustible Collective, and activate its special effect! I may sacrifice up to two pyro-type monsters on my side of the field to increase its attack by 1000 per monster for this turn! Sacrificing my Great Angus and thing in the crater, I can increase its attack to 4000, plus 500 more thanks to the bonus of the 'Seal of Orichalcos'!"

In front of Engar, an eyeball appeared, surrounded by a red cloud of very thick haze. Engar's two other monsters suddenly vanished and in beams of light, flew into the red haze. The red haze bubbled and pulsated, ebbing glows of light.

"Now I'll attack your face-down monster!" Engar proudly stated. "And as per the second part of its effect, it inflicts the difference as battle damage to your Life Points!"

The eyeball shakily hovered over to the face-down card and detonated, causing a massive explosion that shook the room. Lighty's set monster, Mudora, was splattered to pieces and Lighty's Life Points dropped to 5200.

"Unfortunately, Gaia Soul is destroyed at the end of my turn. A small price to pay, but you can't argue with results!" Engar finished.

"Speaking of your 'results'…" Lighty said with a grin. "I'll summon Kelbek, and attack your unguarded Life Points directly with Lightning Strike!"

In front of Lighty materialized a floating mechanical creature. It appeared to be slightly round and decorative, with two arms protruding from either side of it. On the front it bore a single eye which scanned the area prior to locking onto Engar. Generating a surge of electricity, it sent an arc of electricity straight through Engar, sending his Life Points to 5700.

"Hurr…" Engar grunted. "I'll summon another Great Angus and play 'Level Limit - Area B'! This takes all monsters level four or higher and forces them into defense position! They must stay this way as well, until the card leaves the field!"

"That affects your monsters, too!" Lighty mentioned as Engar merely chuckled in response. "You must know about Kelbek's effect, that any monster who attacks it is sent to the owner's hand afterward. Well, I'll set one M/T and end my turn."

"I draw, and I'll summon the Blazing Inpachi! That ends my turn."

In front of Engar rose a massive wood spirit, on fire.

"I'm sad to say that your little defensive façade is over with. I'll activate my 'Dust Tornado' card, which destroys one of your M/T cards and allows me to set my own! I will destroy your Level 'Limit – Area B' and shift my Kelbek back to attack mode! Next, I'll summon another Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, which activates his effect! I'll bring another ritual magic or ritual monster card to my hand, heh heh…"

"Course, that doesn't matter since you've brought out two Manjus now. You have everything you need," Engar commented.

"Exactly. I'll play the ritual magic card, 'Shinato's Ark'! By sacrificing Manju and then another monster from my hand, I can ritual summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane! Engar, I'm afraid this duel has hit its climax!" Shinato appeared before Lighty and emitted a massive display of light. "Shinato, attack Engar's Blazing Inpachi!"

Shinato raised a hand into the air as the Blazing Inpachi shot a fireball at him. Shinato swung his hand and swatted the fireball away. Shinato then pointed a finger at the Great Angus and shot a ray of light through it. The monster stopped dead in its tracks and dropped to the ground, disappearing.

"Don't forget that when Shinato destroys a defense position monster, you take the monster's original attack as damage to your Life Points!" Lighty informed him with a sinister grin as Engar's Life Points sank to 3850.

"That perk won't last long," Engar snapped back. "First I'll play 'Pot of Greed', to draw two more cards! Next, I'll play 'Snatch Steal' on your Shinato, bringing it under my control!"

"Gah!" Lighty cried in surprise as a thief appeared, waving candy at Shinato. The malevolent being, looking very excited, skipped to Engar's field and glared at Lighty while eating the candy.

"Next, _my_ Shinato will attack your Kelbek! As per your monster's ability, Shinato is returned to its owner's hand… and I wonder how many of those ritual magic cards you have in your hand?"

Lighty looked very angry as Shinato shot its light through Lighty's Kelbek prior to shooting like a beam of light back into his hand.

"I'll activate my face-down card, 'Offerings to the Doomed'!" Lighty countered. "At the cost of skipping my next draw phase, I can destroy one monster, and I choose your Great Angus!"

Wrappings shot out from underground and ensnared the Great Angus. The great beast was slammed to the ground and disappeared.

_Wide open again… damn it!_ Engar thought to himself as he set one more M/T and ended his turn.

"I'll set one monster and end my turn," Lighty said, a card appearing in front of him.

_He's setting a monster while I'm wide open. It has to be a flip monster, but what? _Engar thought to himself as he summoned another Blazing Inpachi. Setting another M/T card, he ended his turn.

"You never did elaborate what your fixation is on Stupor, anyway. Why were you after him so badly?" Lighty asked, setting an M/T card and ending his turn.

"That's none of your business," Engar said flatly, summoning a UFO Turtle and ending his turn.

"Come on, Engar. What's this grudge? I heard you stole his deck. That true?" Lighty set one M/T and ended his turn.

"Yeah, I took his deck. He didn't deserve to have something so precious… not after what he did. I'll play 'Heavy Storm' which destroys all of our M/T cards."

"So he did something to you… and your petty grudge involves you taking his deck. He couldn't have done anything that bad, if all you're doing is taking his deck. Then again, you do want his soul too, now… I'm really curious, especially since he doesn't even seem like that bad of a guy… I set one monster and end my turn."

"I told you it's none of your business! I set one M/T and summon the Solar Flare Dragon! As long as I control another pyro-type monster, this monster cannot be attacked! In addition to this, you take 500 damage at the end of every one of my turns as long as this monster's face-up on the field!"

A flaming serpentine dragon burst from the ground and snarled at Lighty.

"Now I order my UFO Turtle to attack your set monster that you just put down!" Engar announced.

Slots opened on the UFO turtle's shell and guided missles launched out of it, striking the Magician of Faith hiding underneath it.

"That monster had a flip effect that allows me to bring back a magic card from my graveyard! Can you guess which card that will be?" Lighty asked with a snide grin.

"Warg! Blazing Inpachi, attack the other set monster! You can't summon that thing if you don't have enough stars to bring it out!" Engar stated as the wooden monstrosity clubbed the set Shining Angel on Lighty's field.

"Now I can immediately special summon any monster from my deck with an attack of 1500 or less, and I'll choose Mudora!" Lighty laughed. "This monster's attack increases by 200 points for every fairy-type monster in my graveyard! That means his attack is currently at 2300!"

Engar ended his turn and the Solar Flare Dragon spat a fireball at Lighty, dropping his Life Points to 2400.

"Now I draw…" Lighty began. "…hah! I'll play the magic card 'Raigeki', to destroy all monsters on your side of the field!"

Lightning shot down from the sky and struck down all three of Engar's monsters, leaving him open for attack.

"Next I'll summon my monster, the Asura Priest, and I'll attack your Life Points directly! This should finish you off!"

"Not quite," Engar shot back. "I'll activate 'Negate Attack', to, uh… negate your attack, and end your Battle Phase!"

"That's fine… take your time."

"Well, I'll first play 'Swords of Revealing Light'! This will keep you from attacking me for three turns! Next, I'll set one M/T and end my turn."

Five bright swords of light shot down from the sky and bound Lighty within their border.

"In the meantime, I'll just build up my roster here… I summon the Hysteric Fairy!" Lighty declared.

"I was waiting for that!" said Engar, wagging his finger. "I'll activate the trap card 'Torrential Tribute'! When a monster is summoned, this card destroys all on the field! As you can see, I have none."

A fierce torrent of water came through the field and washed away all of Lighty's monsters, to his dismay.

"And now," Engar continued. "as I begin my turn, I'll summon one of my favorite monsters… the Ultimate Baseball Kid!"

A minor leager stepped over to Engar's field and gave a few practice swings. Lighty saw the flaming determination in his eyes.

"This lil' slugger can increase his attack by 1000 for every FIRE-type monster on the field other than himself! Next, I'll equip him with the 'Axe of Despair'!"

The bat disappeared from the baseball kid's hands and in its place, the axe sat, ready to inflict suffering.

"With my monster's attack now equal to 2000, I'll attack your Life Points directly, Lighty!"

A baseball came from nowhere, and the baseball kid smacked it hard. The axe of despair emitted sounds of people screaming and children crying as the baseball struck Lighty square in his chest, effectively smashing his Life Points down to a dwindling 400. He began to look distraught.

"I don't wanna lose like this… I _won't_ lose like this! Not to you, or anybody! I avenged my brother… I'm supposed to live on! I will summon the Asura Priest, my spirit monster! Next, I'll play 'Creature Swap'! Since we both only have one monster, I'll get your Ultimate Baseball Kid, and you'll get my Asura Priest! Now, I'll end my turn without attacking, and as per my Asura Priest's special effect, it goes back to my hand!"

Engar, dumbfounded, watched as his monster leapt over to Lighty's field and stared him down with the same determination.

"Now any FIRE-type monsters you summon will only make the Ultimate Baseball Kid stronger!" Lighty said to him. "There's no way you can win!"

Engar simply stood silent and chuckled. "You really are a trip. What do you think this is, some kind of fairy tale?"

"Huh?"

"You think that just because you avenged your brother, fate dictates you'll just live on lonelier, yet happily? What about me? I'm avenging someone, too. But you took my vengeance away from me. Sounds to me like we have a conflict of interest here."

"You… really?"

"You don't always live on happily. That's not how life is. You win some, you lose some. Sometimes, the bad guy really does win. But do you think I'm the bad guy? I don't. Is Stupor? Probably not. Then why are two good guys fighting? If I'm a good guy like you, then _what about me?! Where's my happy ending?!_"

"I… I don't know."

"You're full of it, so self-righteous, just like Stupor and even that fool Dartz. You want to know something? I'm not in this for a new beginning. I'm in this for me. You want me to show you where your happy ending is? I'll show you! I summon a _second Ultimate Baseball Kid_!"

"You still can't catch up! Mine has the Axe of Despair!"

"_Shut up!_ I'll play 'Mage Power', and equip it to _my_ baseball kid! This card increases its attack by 500 for every M/T card on my side of the field, besting yours' attack by 2000 points!"

Lighty bore a terrified expression.

"Time to take your happy ending with a grain of salt, guy. _Ultimate Baseball Kid, attack—_"

"_That's enough!!!_" boomed a familiar voice as suddenly, the entire field shook and fizzled in and out.

Both duelists looked around and after a brief moment, there was a deafening explosion and both duelists were thrown to the ground. As the smoke cleared, in the center of the field stood Dartz.

"What do you two think you're doing?" he asked furiously.

"Stupor was mine, Dartz. He was my prey and this chump took that glory away from me! Now I want his soul instead!" Engar ranted to him.

"You are to collect the souls of strong duelists outside of Doma. I do not appreciate anyone using my orichalcos cards out of their intended context."

"I demand satisfaction!"

"You're not in any position to demand anything, Baron Von Engar. You work for _me_. Know your place or you will be the next one to be fed to Leviathan."

Engar and Dartz stared each other down for a few moments. Suddenly, he looked at a shaken Lighty and said to him, "We'll finish this another time."

* * *

**Not enough Engar! You're welcome! :P 'Kay, see you Sunday.**


	14. Chapter 14: Manifestation

"Chapter 14: Manifestation"

By: Von Stupor

_"Come on, Marron. Let's head back to the headquarters." said Lighty to Marron._

_"I cannot return to the headquarters empty-handed," Marron responded._

_"Oh, right. What are you going to do?"_

_"Satellite images indicate that two from the group are traveling along the railroad tracks in this direction. Rex Raptor is being carried by one of them. I will wait for them here, and duel them as they arrive."_

_"Rex? He must have lost his duel. Ah, well. One more soul for Dartz, I guess. So you'll wait for them here?"_

_"Yes. I cannot return to the headquarters without a spent orichalcos card to present to Master Dartz."_

_"Huh. Well, in that case, keep this."_

_Lighty inserted Baron Von Stupor's deck into one of Marron's storage slots on his side._

_"Use this as encouragement for them to duel you, because they won't duel you for no reason at all."_

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

Marron obediently followed his orders, waiting ever patiently on the railroad tracks by Von Stupor's body for Joey and Tristan to arrive. In the meantime, he ran diagnostic checks as well as simulations in his internal memory, computing different odds with the cards he knew. He calculated possible strategies he could use and felt prepared to take on Joey, though the odds of him winning by his logic were at approximately sixty-five percent.

Suddenly, Marron detected a low rumble on the ground and rose to his feet. He looked around and saw Von Stupor begin rising to his feet.

"This does not compute. You have lost your soul. How are you standing?" he asked Von Stupor.

Von Stupor merely moaned. As he turned to face Marron, Marron noticed something different about Von Stupor.

"Your mask has turned from purple to black. How is this possible? I do not understand." Marron buzzed, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Von Stupor merely stared at him, and the eye on his mask began to glow.

"Duel…" he spoke in a low, horribly distorted voice.

"I do not comprehend your statement. To clarify, you are asking to duel me?" Marron asked.

"Duel… me…"

"Error. You cannot duel, because you have no deck. I must return your deck to you if you wish to duel. However, you have already lost your soul; therefore there is no sense in dueling you."

"Ha, ha, ha… What… am I…?"

"You are like me, a program that cannot lose a soul."

"Duel… _now!!!_ No deck…?"

"You cannot duel without a deck."

Von Stupor looked at his duel disk and saw no deck inside it. He lowered his head and clenched his fists so hard they began shaking. Within moments, a dark aura glowed around his duel disk, and from it, he extracted a deck of cards. Shuffling them, he chuckled.

"Duel…" he growled.

"How do you have a deck? I do not understand." Marron repeated.

"Enough," said Von Stupor, sounding irritated. "Duel… or die... choice..."

After thinking it over, Marron readied the duel disk integrated into his back.

"One M/T… set. 'Mystic Plasma Zone'… to field magic. One monster set. End…" Von Stupor said.

The sky darkened and electricity surged about it. The clouds above swirled and loosed an evil howl.

"'Mystic Plasma Zone' is a field magic card that increases the attack of all DARK-type monsters on the field by 500 and lowers their defense by 400. Understood. I will set two M/T cards and summon the Enraged Battle Ox. I will use the Enraged Battle Ox to attack your set monster and end my turn."

Marron's battle ox appeared and attacked Von Stupor's set monster. Zombyra the Dark appeared, a large, muscular man bearing a skeletal costume with a red cape. The battle ox chopped Zombyra down from his collar clear down to his waist, felling him in an instant.

"Draw…" Von Stupor began. "Summoning Zombyra the Dark…"

"So soon? The odds are very slim for such a lucky draw," Marron observed. "Zombyra is powerful, with 2100 attack. However, it loses 200 attack points every time it destroys a monster. Thanks to the 'Mystic Plasma Zone', Zombyra's attack points gain a 500 point boost."

"Zombyra… attack the battle ox…" Von Stupor chuckled.

Zombyra burst forth from his card and punched the battle ox hard in the face, caving its skull in. The battle ox fell, defeated and Marron's Life Points fell to 7100.

"My turn," Marron stated. "I will summon the Mad Dog of Darkness."

"Trap!" Von Stupor interjected. "'Trap Hole'…"

"Because my monster has more than 1500 attack points, it is destroyed."

As the Mad Dog of Darkness appeared, a hole crumbled from underneath it as it fell into the depths.

"Summoning Zombyra…" Von Stupor said, chuckling.

"Unbelievable," spoke Marron. "The odds are slim that you would draw all three of your Zombyra cards along with your field magic card in these turns alone."

Ignoring him, Von Stupor continued. "Activate 'Ultimate Offering'… 500 Life Points… set monster… 500 Life Points… summon Dark Blade…"

"'Ultimate Offering' is a continuous trap that allows the user to pay 500 Life Points for an extra normal summon or set. Now would be wise to activate my set quick-play magic card, 'Scapegoat', to summon four defense-position Sheep Tokens."

As a black armor-clad knight stepped out from a portal onto Von Stupor's field, four cute sheep appeared on Marron's.

"All three monsters attack… one sheep left…" Von Stupor spoke, completely devoid of emotion.

"Now only one Sheep Token remains," Marron acknowledged. "However, the odds turn in my favor with this card, 'Seal of Orichalcos'. This field magic card not only replaces your 'Mystic Plasma Zone', but it also gives my monsters a 500 point boost in their attack points."

The skies cleared of the plasma zone, and in its place stood the mighty seal of orichalcos.

"I will destroy…" Von Stupor grumbled.

"Do not forget, this card cannot be destroyed at all."

"Hunh…?"

"This card is made from very powerful magic, and cannot be destroyed. It is because of this magic that the loser of the duel loses their soul."

"Ahhh… I will remember, heh, heh…"

"Now I will play the magic card 'Nobleman of Extermination'."

"'Negate Attack', destroyed and removed from play," Von Stupor muttered, shrugging his shoulders.

"Now I will summon the Gyaku-Gire Panda. This monster gains a 500 point attack boost not only from the Seal of Orichalcos, but also for every monster you have in play. This brings its attack up to a grand total of 3300. However, I will also play the magic card 'Wild Nature's Release'. This increases the attack of a beast-type monster by its own defense for this turn, which further increases the attack to 4900. I will use my Gyaku-Gire Panda to attack your set monster."

A vicious, angry panda appeared before Von Stupor, holding a massive bamboo stick. Holding the bamboo stick in the air, it swung the bamboo down with tremendous force, squashing Von Stupor's set Nimble Momonga.

"This monster has another effect, which states that if it attacks a defense-position monster, it inflicts the difference to your Life Points as battle damage," Marron elaborated.

"Gah! I… 4800 damage…?" Von Stupor uttered.

"By my calculation, you now have 1600 Life Points left. However, your Nimble Momonga gives you 1000 Life Points for being destroyed as a result of battle, as well as allowing you to special summon up to two in face-down defense position from your deck."

"Correct… 2600 Life Points left… Sacrifice both Zombyras… tribute summon Cosmo Queen… Cosmo Queen attack panda…"

Von Stupor's two Zombyras disappeared, and in their place stood a tall, robed figure. She had two purple wiry hands that emerged from her sleeves, and on her head was a massive crown that concealed her face in shadows. In her palm, a swirling vortex of galactic chaos ensued, and it fired this ball towards the panda. It was met by the protection of three priestesses, who together deflected it into the air and away.

"I have activated Waboku, to protect my panda," Marron informed him.

"Futile," Von Stupor commented.

"For my turn I will activate 'Snatch Steal', which will allow me to take control of your Cosmo Queen."

"Ha ha ha… First, a trap… 'Deck Devastation Virus'."

"The odds have worked against me this entire duel. You're using that trap to sacrifice your Cosmo Queen before I have a chance to control it, eliminating my 'Snatch Steal' and getting the full use of your Cosmo Queen at the same time."

The Cosmo Queen gripped her throat tightly and dropped to the ground, spewing a purple haze that engulfed Marron and the entirety of his field.

"All monsters on the field… in hand… less than 1500 attack… destroyed! For three turns…" Von Stupor chuckled. "Now, draw… 'Monster Reborn' to revive Cosmo Queen… Cosmo Queen attacks panda… Dark Blade attacks Sheep Token…"

"Your cards flow very well. Everything I do, you have a counter for it. The only way to explain such dueling is unimaginable luck. Strategy cannot defeat such luck," commented Marron as his remaining monsters were destroyed, sending his Life Points to 6000. "The monster I have just drawn has been destroyed, therefore I pass this turn."

"Sacrifice Cosmo Queen for Great Maju Garzett…"

"Great Maju Garzett is a very powerful monster. Its attack and defense are twice the amount of the monster sacrificed to summon it. It is very overpowered as it only requires one tribute. The odds that you would be able to safely summon it using a Cosmo Queen are extremely rare. Great Maju Garzett's attack power is now 5800."

The monster stood before Marron; a monstrous, bipedal creature with tough bony armor all about its body. It stood, muscles hulking from its tribute, ready to destroy.

"All monsters attack you… destroyed… you lose your soul…"

As the Great Maju Garzett and Dark Blade both struck Marron, his Life Points were completely depleted.

"The timing of your cards was too convenient," said Marron as the seal failed to extract a soul from him and fizzled out. "What are your cards in your hand?"

"Fehhh… you'll never know."

"By the satellite images I am viewing, your cards are all blank, yet they served some purpose on the field. I cannot discern how, but I am aware that you cheated during our duel."

"Ha ha ha… prove it… I play by the rules."

"You are somehow able to switch the cards into anything you want, as long as they are not seen first."

"Your soul… lose it!"

"I do not have a soul to lose. Using 'Seal of Orichalcos' is of no consequence to me if I lose."

Von Stupor growled, and ran towards Marron, who jumped away.

"You must die!" Von Stupor growled once, and ran towards Marron.

Marron quickly jumped into the air and activated jets on his feet to fly away. Down below, Von Stupor could be seen following Marron away from the railroad tracks.

"Activating distress signal. Calling Lighty von Light-Light."

Soon, Lighty picked up.

"What's going on, Marron?"

"Requesting assistance."

"Why? What's the problem?"

"Baron Von Stupor is following me."

"W-what?!" Lighty sputtered. "M-Marron, quit lying!"

"It is indeed Baron Von Stupor. However, the mask is black."

"It must be an impostor, then!"

"It is not. I dueled him, but he used another deck. I have confirmed that he is cheating, but I don't know how."

"Another deck…? Alright Marron, I'm already headed your way. I'll close in on your distress signal and see what this is all about for myself. If Baron Von Stupor really is with you, I'll take him down all over again."

"Understood. I am currently traveling by air to the headquarters. He is following me. If I land, he will attempt a physical assault."

"Well, why don't you fight back?"

"I'm simply a dueling/surveillance robot; I am not meant for fighting. I have many sensitive parts that could possibly come loose and cause severe malfunction in other areas."

"Just try to stay in the air for as long as you can. How much fuel do you have left?"

"About ten minutes' worth."

"Hang in there."

"Understood."

* * *

**Sensitive parts? Does that mean Zombie and Lighty were bluffing every time they threatened to attack with Marron? Ha, ha. Also, what the heck is going on with Stupor? Fehhh... you'll never know. :P Hah, hope you enjoyed it. Things only complicate further in the next chapter. Stay tuned!**


	15. Chapter 15: Darkness

"Chapter 15- Darkness"

By: Agent Baron

In the distance, Marron could see a helicopter flying low to the ground. Zooming in, he saw Lighty aboard a motorcycle, riding toward him. He began to let up on his jets to conserve fuel, as Baron Von Stupor stalked him from the ground, pacing.

Von Stupor noticed the motorcycle approaching and watched it. Noticing Von Stupor's distraction, Marron landed and waited for Lighty to arrive. As he pulled over on his motorcycle, he stared at Von Stupor with mortified curiosity.

"Who… are you? You're not Baron Von Stupor… are you? Your mask is different than his," Lighty asked him.

"Me? No…" said Von Stupor, approaching him.

"You're not Baron Von Stupor? So you're an impostor!"

"I don't pretend… to be anybody."

"Marron, what's going on here? Where'd this guy come from?"

"Baron Von Stupor had lost his soul. I stood by his body. Long after you left, he stood behind me, and his mask had turned black. There was a black-colored energy signature coming from him at the time. If this is not Baron Von Stupor, then a possibility would be that something is controlling his body," Marron postulated.

"If you're not Baron Von Stupor, then who are you?" Lighty asked Von Stupor.

Von Stupor began stepping toward him, tapping his mask lightly.

Lighty and Marron stepped away from him, keeping their distance.

"You're… the mask?" Lighty asked him. He simply chuckled in reply. "Are you a spirit from the mask?"

"No… I am nothing…"

"You have to be something."

"Duel me… you will see…"

"Duel you…?"

"Duel me now… Try to take my soul… Ha ha ha…"

Lighty was rather shaken. He didn't quite know what to do.

"Duel me now… or die… I don't mind whatever choice you make…" Von Stupor continued.

Lighty did not take his eyes off of Von Stupor for an instant.

"Marron… this is one of those times when you wouldn't want to be living," Lighty said to Marron.

"Why?" asked the robot in reply.

"Because honestly, Marron, I don't think this is Baron Von Stupor, but I do think this is Baron Von Stupor's body… and whatever is controlling it is scaring the _shit_ out of me."

"Duel, _now!_" shrieked Von Stupor.

Jumping, Lighty very shakily readied his duel disk.

"If I can beat this thing, we can get back on plan…" Lighty said, still watching Von Stupor firmly.

"He has no soul," Marron informed him. "The seal of orichalcos might not work."

"Right now, it's our only choice. Something about this thing gives me butterflies in my stomach, but I have no choice but to fight him."

"Haaaah…" Von Stupor exhaled, sounding pleased. "I will set one monster… Set one M/T… and I play 'Shadow of Orichalcos'."

Fear and shock struck Lighty as a purple light surrounded them, looking just like the seal of orichalcos, but emitting a purple haze. The seal lowered itself and shoved Marron away.

"What is this?!" Lighty cried in fear. He ran to the seal's boundary and pounded on it in an attempt to escape.

"You're my prisoner… Ha ha ha…" Von Stupor responded.

"How did you get this card?! I've never seen it before!"

Von Stupor simply tapped his mask.

"You… you made this card? So… you made your deck?"

"Ha ha ha… You will not leave here…"

"What have I done? What have I done???"

"Take your turn…"

_If I beat him… he'll lose his soul instead of me… relax, this is just a copy of the seal of orichalcos… you can do this,_ Lighty thought to himself. "Alright, I'll play 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards… and then I'll summon the Hysteric Fairy and attack your face-down monster!"

The Hysteric Fairy picked up a large book to slam down on Von Stupor's set card. The Man-Eater Bug was squashed, but its guts splattered onto the Hysteric Fairy, melting its skin away.

"Flip effect… destroy one monster…" Von Stupor said to him with a chuckle. "I summon a Man with Wdjat… I can look at a set card once per turn… but I don't need to. Heh, heh… He will attack your Life Points…"

A man in a red robe appeared. The eye of Wdjat glowed on his forehead. Holding a blue flame in his hand, he threw it at Lighty, striking him for 2100 total points of direct damage.

"Agh… I don't have a strong enough monster to take it down…" Lighty said to himself as he set a monster and ended his turn.

"'Change of Heart' on your set monster," Von Stupor said to him. "I control it for a turn, to sacrifice… I summon Cosmo Queen."

As the Cosmo Queen appeared on the field, Lighty stared up at it in fear.

"Be careful, Lighty. I said that he is somehow cheating," Marron reminded him. "He brings out strong cards unnecessarily fast, as if his cards could be anything he wants at any time."

"Cosmo Queen attacks you… 3400 damage…" Von Stupor said, as the Cosmo Queen fired a green blast of energy at Lighty. He was struck hard, and dropped to his knees.

"I will set one monster and end my turn…" Lighty said, forlorn.

"Draw… Cosmo Queen attacks your face-down monster…"

The Cosmo Queen used immense gravity to crush the card, from a Kelbek burst and shot the Cosmo Queen prior to exploding. The Cosmo Queen turned to light and shot back to Von Stupor's hand.

"Hm…" Von Stupor grunted. "Main Phase Two… set monster… Then I activate 'Ultimate Offering'… paying five hundred Life Points for an extra summon, I pay 500 to set a second monster… then 500 more to tribute both of them for Cosmo Queen…"

"Now it's my turn…" announced Lighty. "There is still hope for me yet! First I play 'Heavy Storm' to destroy all magic or trap cards on the field! Next, I'll play the ritual magic card, 'Shinato's Ark'! By sacrificing monsters from my hand whose stars equal eight or more, I can ritual summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane! Shinato, take down his Cosmo Queen!"

Shinato appeared before Lighty and charged a mighty bolt of energy. He shot it, and it bore straight through the Cosmo Queen's magical defense and severed her upper torso.

Von Stupor growled loudly and clenched his fist, his fist emitting a dark aura. Von Stupor himself must have been surprised to see this. Examining his hand, he clenched it again and strained himself, and before long, a dark aura appeared before his hand.

"Oh…?" he pondered. "Hmmm… memories…?"

_What is he thinking?_ Lighty wondered to himself.

"Shadow Games… lovely fun… destruction… pain… torment… darkness," Von Stupor said to himself. Tapping his mask, he said to Lighty, "More than just a mask. I like it. Millennium Eye."

Lighty simply watched him in confused and frightened silence. Suddenly, he felt a prodding feeling in his head.

"'Mystical Space Typhoon'… 'The Sanctuary in the Sky'… your hand?" Von Stupor asked him.

Lighty was horrified.

"Not a good hand… you won't win," continued Von Stupor. "Stop calling for your brother… he's gone. I think… with the eye in this mask… I can separate you two forever…"

"W-what…?"

"If you brother's soul comes back… you won't be in the same realm anymore…"

"H-how?"

"I can make this a Shadow Game… and the loser is banished to the Shadow Realm… Combined with orichalcos seal…? Who knows?"

As Von Stupor said this, a dark fog erupted from the mask and engulfed Von Stupor and Lighty. Marron was nowhere to be seen.

"I set one M/T… end of turn…"

"H-how are you doing this?! Why now?!" Lighty asked, panicking.

"Just now figured it out… Need time for adjusting to life… just exploring the body's memories… important information there… ha ha ha…"

"Sh-Shinato… attack the face down card…" Lighty said, his voice shaking. "Oh, god… I got lucky when I fought Engar… but no one can save me from this… I should have never joined Dartz… if only I hadn't met him… then Zombie…!"

"A trap… 'Mirror Force'," stated Von Stupor. "Attack negated… and all attack position monsters are destroyed."

"If I ever get out of this… I swear I'll never try something like this again…" Lighty cried.

"'Monster Reborn'… I bring back the Cosmo Queen. Next, 'Shinato's Ark'… I sacrifice two monsters from my hand… appear, Shinato, King of a Higher Plane…"

Shinato appeared before Von Stupor and stared down Lighty.

"M-my card… you copied it…?" Lighty asked.

"Ha ha ha ha…" Von Stupor laughed. "I like this… Monsters, attack…"

Shinato sent a ray of light through Lighty's set card, igniting it. It turned out to be a Mask of Darkness. Von Stupor's Cosmo Queen then sent a green blast of energy at Lighty, wiping out the rest of his Life Points.

"I… lost…" Lighty moaned.

The purple seal of orichalcos closed in on a petrified Lighty and extracted his soul from his body. Rather than blasting off to Dartz in a ray of blue light, it instead remained as a luminescent purple sphere, floating in the air. The shadows that engulfed the two duelists faded, taking the sealed soul of Lighty von Light-Light with them as Lighty's body lay lifeless on the ground.

"Lighty is gone… forever…" Von Stupor said to Marron who had been sitting nearby, yet unable to watch the duel.

"Has Lighty been killed?"

"No… but his soul is on a permanent… hiatus."

Marron and Von Stupor stood, staring each other for a moment. Suddenly, Marron barked and spat something from his mouth onto Lighty in all of a fraction of a second. Then, in a flash, Marron turned and ran, activating his distress signal once more. As Marron ran, he saw Von Stupor merely standing in place, watching him.

* * *

**Would you believe me if I told you that these matches are more difficult to do than other duels? It's hard to make someone get their ass kicked in a dramatic manner without the duel being too short. I really needed to think about this one, with help from RadicalR, of course. It gets kinda complicated, what with the cheating. A question to ponder, what do you guys think is going on with Baron Von Stupor?**

**Another note... we're approaching that time in the story where the chapter themes come into play! There is a musical theme I have arranged for the next chapter. I didn't dress it up to make it loop or anything, nor did I with any others. Send me an email with the subject 'fresh piney scent' and I'll send you the chapter theme song when I post the next chapter. Prepare for all hell to break loose!**


	16. Chapter 16: Casualties

"Chapter 16- Casualties"

By: Von Stupor

Marron slowly lowered himself and landed on top of the Doma headquarters building and began a swift descent towards the bottom floor, looking for Dartz. Reaching the bottom floor, he ran into Mai Valentine.

"Mai, there is a very severe problem," Marron said to her.

"I'm sorry Marron, but I'm not a pawn of Doma's anymore. I'm not going to let them control my life anymore and I'll cut down anyone who stands in my way!"

"There is an immediate threat to the both of us that will arrive soon. We must work together to take it down."

"What are you babbling about?"

"Not long ago, Lighty managed to defeat Baron Von Stupor in a duel."

"Von Stupor, defeated? That's a real shocker, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Von Stupor has risen again, without a soul. His mask is black, and his demeanor has very much changed. He claims not to be Baron Von Stupor, as if something else has awakened in him. He has defeated Lighty von Light-Light. I planted a bug on Lighty so his body can be later retrieved. Even though he has defeated Lighty, he possesses the ability to cheat by playing any card he wishes at any time and actively uses this ability."

"That doesn't sound like him at all."

"He is creating his own cards, and can readily use a corrupted version of 'Seal of Orichalcos', called 'Shadow of Orichalcos'."

"You're sure this is Baron Von Stupor?"

"I don't know who it is, but he is currently targeting me, and is following me. I need your help in order to defeat him and protect Master Dartz. If you do not help, he will destroy me and possibly come after you next."

"Well… if he's going to come after me, I guess I don't have a choice then, huh? Let's work together to take him down."

"How can we defeat someone who has the odds stacked so firmly in his favor?"

"That's easy. We'll just even the odds… or stack them in our favor, if we can."

"How?"

"First off, we'll need a strategy, and I happen to have the perfect idea. I hope you don't mind stacking your deck for this duel. It's not like our opponent is playing fair, either…"

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

Just inside the building, Baron Von Stupor stepped into the main hall. Mai Valentine and Marron both stood there, waiting.

"We were waiting for you to show up, Baron Von Stupor," Mai said to him, a sly grin on her face. "I heard you've been doing some bad stuff… is that true?"

"Stop calling me that…" Von Stupor said to her. The sound of his voice alone startled her.

"What are you, if you're not Baron Von Stupor, then?"

"Hah… wouldn't you love to know? Duel me…"

"If a duel is what you want, honey, then a duel is what you'll have! But of course, you'll have to duel my friend here…"

Marron stepped out from behind Mai.

"That dog… I want the dog," Von Stupor said earnestly.

"Duel us," she said. "Show me you've got the guts."

"Both of you? Ha ha ha… I will defeat both of you. Let's duel…"

The three duelists readied their duel disks and prepared for battle.

Suddenly, Baron Von Stupor raised his hand in the air and a dark fog erupted from his mask. "Shadow Game…" he said.

"A what?! Sh-Shadow Game…?" Mai sputtered. _Don't worry about it, Mai… just go with your strategy and you should cripple him so bad he can't recover!_

"I'll go first," Mai declared quickly. "I'll set one M/T and end my turn! Your turn, Marron!"

"I set one M/T and I will play 'Card Destruction'," Marron announced. "This forces us to discard our hand and draw the same number of cards from our deck."

"I'll chain onto that my 'Forced Requisition' continuous trap card!" Mai cut in. "For every card I discard from my hand, my opponent must discard the same number of cards from his! That means while Marron and I both have a full hand, you're forced to discard your entire hand and the next five cards you draw from your deck as well!"

Von Stupor growled and complied with the trap card.

_If my prediction is correct, Von Stupor will now go on the defensive with only one card in his hand,_ Mai thought. _That means that as long as he defends himself from us with monsters, he won't have the opportunity to play any tricks for now. I only need this one turn…_

"I set one monster… end of turn…" Von Stupor grumbled.

"Excellent!" Mai exclaimed. "Now I'll draw—"

"I will activate my trap card, 'Royal Decree'. This is a continuous trap card that negates all trap cards except for itself," Marron interrupted. "Now we are unable to use any trap cards."

"Good job, Marron," Mai congratulated the machine. "And now I'll play 'Seal of Orichalcos', which will increase the attack of all of my monsters by 500, as well as taking the soul of the loser! Now I'll summon the Cyber Harpie, and play my magic card, 'Elegant Egotist'! Since there is a face-up Harpie Lady on the field, I can now special summon the Harpie Lady Sisters! Next I'll play 'Premature Burial'! By sacrificing 800 of my Life points, I can bring back a monster from the graveyard and equip this card to it! I'll choose my Spell Canceller!"

A harpie materialized in front of Mai, wearing metallic armor. Beside it materialized a machine with legs, as well as a claw on the front. It opened its claw, and a large force field surrounded all of the duelists.

"As long as my Spell Canceller is on the field, no magic cards can be activated, and it negates the effects of any face-up spell cards!" Mai explained. "And yes, this means that if you somehow destroy my 'Premature Burial' card, then the second part of its effect is negated and my Spell Canceller stays anyway. Even more unfortunately for you, since 'Seal of Orichalcos' can't be negated, it however, is unaffected by my Spell Canceller! Now, I enter my Battle Phase! I order my Spell Canceller to attack your face-down monster!"

_Ha! This means that now Baron Von Stupor is busy defending himself with monsters, and in addition to this, he can't use any magic or trap cards!_ Mai thought to herself.

The Spell Canceller crawled over to Von Stupor card when a Man-Eater Bug leapt from it. It gouged the Spell Canceller, but wound up electrocuting itself in the process and dying.

"Man-Eater Bug, I get to destroy any one monster as per its flip effect," Von Stupor commented.

_I had just a plan for this kind of contingency,_ Mai thought to herself. "First, my harpies will attack your Life Points directly!"

All of Mai's harpies gave Von Stupor a fierce slash, dropping his Life Points to 4750.

"Last but not least, I'll play 'Monster Reborn' to revive my Spell Canceller!" Mai finished. "Looks like you're limited to monsters, Von Stupor!"

"I will summon the Berserk Gorilla, and I'll attack your Life Points directly," Marron announced.

A mighty gorilla burst forth from nowhere and punched Von Stupor clean in his face, knocking his Life Points down to 2750.

Von Stupor growled, drawing his next card. He paused for a moment to thnk, then chuckled. "Ahaha… I'll set one monster and end my turn…"

"Face it, Von Stupor! It's all over for you! I order my Cyber Harpie to attack your face-down monster!" Mai declared, and her harpie began its flight over to Von Stupor's set card.

Suddenly, the Cyber Jar burst from it. I was large and metallic, with a jar shape. The metal on the front of it was designed in a way to resemble a smiling face with a toothy grin.

"What?!" Mai cried. "The Cyber Jar?! That card destroys all monsters on the field, and makes us draw five cards, summoning all monsters drawn that are level four or less!"

"The odds for us have suddenly sagged," Marron observed.

"I summon Cyber Harpie Lady and Amazoness Chain Master," Mai declared.

"I special summon a Berserk Gorilla, Mad Dog of Darkness, and Bazoo the Soul-Eater," Marron added.

"I set one monster, summon the Dark Blade and two Zombyra the Dark," Von Stupor decided.

Mai suddenly bore a surprised expression.

"I didn't expect him to do that…" Mai muttered.

"The odds are now in Von Stupor's favor," Marron commented.

"Shut up, Marron! Right now, we need support! First I'll play Amazoness Spellcaster, which allows me to switch the attack values of an enemy monster with one of my Amazons!"

An old tribal witch appeared and used her magic to create multicolored orbs of light that surrounded Zombyra, and then her Amazoness Chain Master. Zombyra then became thin and wiry while the Amazoness Chain Master bulked up in size. Then, swinging its mighty claw about, it struck Zombyra in his chest, felling him and reducing Von Stupor's Life Points to 1950.

"Draw," Marron stated. "I will play 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards. Next, I set one monster and I order the Berserk Gorilla to attack your set monster."

Marron's frenzied gorilla ran over and ripped the monster out of Von Stupor's card. It was a Nimble Momonga, a creature that resembled a flying squirrel, and was easily squeezed until it popped.

"I gain 1000 Life Points, and can now set up to two more Nimble Momongas in face-down defense position from my deck," Von Stupor stated. "Of course I'll choose two…"

"This isn't looking good," Mai said out loud. "I didn't count on him using something as old as Cyber Jar…"

"My turn..." Von Stupor continued. "I can now play magic cards, thanks to my Cyber Jar destroying the Spell Canceller… but no traps yet. We'll see… First I'll play 'Change of Heart' on Marron's Berserk Gorilla, to gain control until the end of this turn…"

"Remember that as per Berserk Gorilla's effect, even though it has 2000 attack, it must attack whenever possible," Marron reminded him.

"I don't need to…" Von Stupor replied. "I sacrifice it for Great Maju Garzett…"

"Oh, my god!" Mai exclaimed. "No…"

The Great Maju Garzett stepped forth, powered all the way to 4000 attack thanks to the Berserk Gorilla.

"One Zombyra to attack the Cyber Harpie Lady… one to attack the Amazoness Chain Master…" Von Stupor stated.

The Cyber Harpie Lady flew into the air to escape Zombyra, but Zombyra was able to leap up and catch it by the feet, dragging it down. Landing, Zombyra slammed the harpie down and stomped its head in. Meanwhile, the amazon was busy fending off the second Zombyra with her chain. Zombyra finally caught it and yanked the amazon to him where he clutched her by her throat until she stopped moving.

"Now… Great Maju Garzett attacks you…" Von Stupor said, a slight joy detectable in his voice.

Maju Garzett stomped over to Mai and stared her down prior to punching her on top of her head, slamming her to the ground fiercely. Her Life Points plummeted to 2300.

Mai laid for a moment prior to standing back up. "I'll summon the Unfriendly Amazon and attack Zombyra with it!" Mai declared, standing strong.

Her amazon warrior drew her sword and plunged it deep into Zombyra's chest, destroying him and reducing Von Stupor's Life Points to 2850.

"I must protect Mai's soul," Marron stated. "I will remove two of my destroyed Berserk Gorillas from play to increase the attack of Bazoo the Soul-Eater by 300 points per monster, and I will use him to attack your second Zombyra."

Marron's baboon consumed two ball of light that came from Marron's duel disk and glowed with a yellow aura of power. Beating its chest, it jumped onto Zombyra and bit his head off, reducing Von Stupor's Life Points to 2550.

"Ahaha… futile…" Von Stupor chuckled. "I'll sacrifice my two set Nimble Momongas to summon the Cosmo Queen. Cosmo Queen, attack the amazon… Maju Garzett… finish her… you can't activate traps, ha... ha... ha... ha…"

Mai looked in horror as Von Stupor's Cosmo Queen blasted apart her amazon while Maju Garzett approached her.

"You're… unstoppable…" Mai quivered as the Maju Garzett backhanded her against the seal's border.

"I have failed," Marron stated as the seal closed around her and extracted her soul.

"Your turn, dog…" Von Stupor said to Marron.

"There is no possible way I can win this duel, and I have failed to protect Mai. I shall concede defeat to you."

"Good… now you will be destroyed."

The fog dissipated, and the purple sphere housing Mai's soul vanished into the shadows

Before Marron could react, Von Stupor, black aura glowing, shot across the dissipating field and delivered a savage chop to Marron's neck. The mechanical hound was slammed to the ground and clacked across the floor. Marron tried to move, but was rendered completely immobile.

"Gahahaha…" Von Stupor chuckled as he aimed his palm at the robot to finish it off.

"_Baron Von Stupor!_" shouted a familiar voice.

Von Stupor turned around to see Yami standing behind him, looking on in total disbelief.

"Von Stupor, what has happened to you?" Yami asked him.

"You… you know him…" Von Stupor said to him.

"Who, Marron? I have heard about him from Amy. Baron Von Stupor, what is the matter with you? Your mask is black… your voice…"

"He is no longer Baron Von Stupor," Marron buzzed. "Von Stupor was defeated by Lighty von Light-Light, and has lost his soul. Whatever is controlling the body is not Baron Von Stupor."

"What?"

Von Stupor chuckled and stepped toward Yami.

Yami stepped back, watching Von Stupor.

"Something about you is definitely different. I detect something about you… something completely rotten, and evil… You're not Baron Von Stupor anymore, are you?"

"Nope… ha ha ha…"

"Then what are you?"

"Hmmm… just a spawn… I guess…"

"From the mask?"

"Duel me…"

"He is an unstoppable dueling force… he is able to cheat," Marron warned him.

"Cheat? How?" Yami asked.

"He has no deck. It has been created, and he can use any card he wants, anytime."

Von Stupor simply chuckled.

"If he can use any cards, then how can anyone defeat him?" Yami asked.

"Enough…" Von Stupor said. "Duel me…"

"We tried restricting the cards he could use with other cards such as 'Royal Decree', but we failed. Mai has been taken by him as well," Marron continued.

Yami stroked his chin for a moment, thinking to himself.

"Duel, _now!_" Von Stupor impatiently shouted, a black aura erupting from him.

_Whatever that thing is, it's using the mask's power… Dueling is the only chance I have of defeating it,_ Yami thought to himself. _Baron Von Stupor, forgive me… but it seems I have no choice but to take you down!_

* * *

**Whatever Stupor is, he's definitely a veritable engine of destruction. Taking down two duelists at once who were even cheating themselves... and now he's set his crosshairs on the King of Games! Can Yami take down this creature, or could Stupor be too much for even the heart of the cards to handle? Find out Wednesday! ;)**

**By the way, there is a chapter theme for the next chapter as well. Just send me an email with the subject "pretty pretty lilacs" and I'll get the theme right to you before I post the next chapter! By the way, if you can't find my email, you can always contact me via messenger, information of which is found on my profile. Ciao!  
**


	17. Chapter 17: Titans

**You guys can't deny you wanted to this.** **Your fandom is so predictable. Then again, so is mine. Who's gonna win?! Stupor vs. Yami in the epic match of the century! Kyoryu Seeentaaaaai... Zyuraaangeeeeeer!**

* * *

"Chapter 17- Titans"

By: Agent Baron

Baron Von Stupor's body, driven by an unknown entity has claimed two victims and nearly a third. Halted by Yami's interference, Baron Von Stupor's attention turns to the mighty duelist. Yami, believing himself unable to contend with the evil force of the mask especially when coupled with its integrated Millennium Eye, has no choice but to try to play its dangerous game and defeat it in a duel.

"I'll start first, by setting three M/T cards and summoning the Skilled Dark Magician!" Yami declared as a robed sorcerer appeared, holding a short staff.

"Ahaha… I'll play 'Heavy Storm', and destroy all M/T cards on the field..." chuckled Von Stupor as Yami's cards went up in a magnificent cyclone of wind.

"I'll counter that card with 'Scapegoat'! This allows me to summon four Sheep Tokens that cannot be used as tributes!" Yami countered.

"Hah… Next… 'Dark Hole' to destroy all monsters..."

Yami's sheep along with his magician were quickly vaporized as the were crushed within a ball of pure gravity.

"Next... 'Shadow of Orichalcos'…"

"_Oh, no!_ He copied 'Seal of Orichalcos' as well?!"

Yami's heart sank as both duelists became entwined in the weaving lines of purple light, sealed away from the outside world.

"You can't escape… Yami…" Von Stupor said to him.

"You still know my name?"

"Memories… I know them now."

"You're probing Von Stupor's mind for information… that would mean you couldn't possibly be any part of him."

"Maybe… I set one M/T and summon A Man with Wdjat. He attacks…"

The robed man appeared before Von Stupor and the glowing yellow eye on his forehead shone brightly as he lobbed a blue flame at Yami. Yami's Life Points sank to 5900.

"That's one of Baron Von Stupor's monsters… straight from his original deck. You designed your deck straight from Von Stupor's memory of his cards. Just by the way you duel, I understand more and more about you. I'll set one monster and end my turn," said Yami.

"You are very skilled... No chances..."

Yami suddenly felt his mind quiver. A chill ran down his mind and a violated feeling swept over him.

"I see... your entire hand..." Von Stupor grumbled. "You have Magician of Faith face-down... and--"

At the last moment, the surprised creature used his mask to block a magical blast which had originated from Yami's Millennium Puzzle. Von Stupor in anger launched a ferocious dark blast back at Yami, who narrowly dodged to the side. Yami looked nervously at the deep crater adjacent to him, knowing that he could not inflict so much concussive physical damage with his puzzle.

"For as long as you attempt to read my mind with your Mask of Truth, you risk being attacked by my puzzle!" Yami warned him. "I will not allow you to cheat during this duel! Even though my puzzle can only attack minds while your mask can affect physical objects as well, you let your guard down every time you look into my mind!"

"You... good person...? You attacked me...!" Von Stupor rasped.

"You are an evil being intent only on destruction and the hurting of others! Unlike anyone I have faced, there isn't a trace of good in you. I know in my heart that you aren't Baron Von Stupor. You're nothing more than a seed of pure evil, and I have no remorse for severing your binds to this realm!"

"Aw... you would attack your friend...?"

"_You're not my friend!_ How dare you try to pass yourself off as him! You exist only to destroy, and you cheat to ensure your success! I haven't a shred of respect for you and by the gods I will take you down! I will force you to play fair in any way I know how, and I promise you this will be your last duel!"

"Ha ha ha... Fine... I will not read your mind... I don't need to..."

_At least now he won't try to read my mind..._ Yami thought to himself, taking a deep breath and keeping a steady poker face. _Now if I can only stop him from drawing what he wants... that will be the key to my victory!_

"I summon Double Coston…" Von Stupor growled, continuing his turn. "and I activate my trap, 'Ultimate Offering'… paying 500 Life Points to sacrifice my Double Coston and tribute summon the Cosmo Queen," said Von Stupor, chuckling afterward. "Double Coston counts as two tributes for a DARK-type monster…"

"Marron is right. His cards are conveniently well-timed… there must be a way to stop him from cheating… Marron and Mai had the right idea by limiting what cards he could use, but they only hurt themselves as well," Yami thought out loud to himself.

"A Man with Wdjat attacks your monster…" said Von Stupor, his monster crushing Yami's set Magician of Faith under a large blue fireball.

"You benefit from its flip effect, one magic card returned from the graveyard to your hand... Now Cosmo Queen attacks you directly…"

The Cosmo Queen, holding out a palm, slammed Yami to the ground hard under tremendous gravitational pressure.

"Ack…" Yami coughed, getting up. "Now I only have 2500 Life Points left… But if I can only hold out long enough…"

Yami drew his next card and his eyes lit up.

"This card will prove to be quite useful!" he announced. "I will now remove one DARK-type and one LIGHT-type monster from play to summon the mighty 'Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning'!"

A swirling vortex appeared before Yami and a ferocious black armor-clad knight stepped from it. Its armor appeared very prestigious, and it sported a large sword. It emanated a fierce blue aura.

Von Stupor was not shaken in the slightest.

"During my turn, I have one of two effects I can activate," Yami continued. "For this turn, I wish to use its ability to remove your Cosmo Queen from play, so that you can never bring it back!"

The soldier pointed its sword at Von Stupor's Cosmo Queen and shot its aura at it. The Cosmo Queen was struck and while engulfed in the aura, rose into the air. Suddenly, she imploded, folding in on herself until nothing remained.

Von Stupor angrily clenched his fist, and a dark aura emanated from it.

"When I use this effect, my monster cannot attack this turn. Now I'll set one M/T and end my turn," Yami finished, relinquishing control to Von Stupor.

"I play 'Swords of Revealing Light'," Von Stupor said, ending his turn. "You cannot attack for three turns…"

Massive beaming swords of light flew down and surrounded Yami's entire field.

_This looks to be slightly in my favor, as Von Stupor's hand is completely empty,_ Yami thought to himself. _He used a lot of cards in the beginning, so if I can stay aggressive, he'll have a hard time keeping up with me. The idea for now is to keep him with only one card in his hand. If he manages to get two or more, things will get ugly_,_ fast!_ "I'll play 'Lightning Vortex'! This allows me to discard one card from my hand to destroy all face-up monster cards you control! Next, I set one M/T and end my turn!"

Charges of lightning rained from the sky and shocked Von Stupor's man with Wdjat, exploding him.

"I now play Raigeki," Von Stupor growled, watching Yami's Black Luster Soldier meet the same fate as his own monster. "End of turn…"

"For my turn I'll play 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards, and then 'Graceful Charity' to draw three cards at the price of discarding two!" _No! No monsters!_ "Now I'll set one M/T and end my turn!"

"I summon Dark Blade… he'll attack your Life Points…"

"I'll activate my quick-play magic card, 'Scapegoat'! That summons four more Sheep Tokens to protect my Life Points."

As four sheep appeared on Yami's side of the field, Von Stupor's black knight viciously slew one of them by chopping it in half with its sword.

"Now, I'll set one M/T and end my turn," said Yami. _Tch! I need to get some stronger cards, quickly. I can't let him recover!_

"I summon La Jinn, the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, and I'll use La Jinn with the Dark Blade to attack two more Sheep Tokens…" said Von Stupor, regaining his cocky chuckle.

Von Stupor's genie and knight slew two more Sheep Tokens, leaving Yami with one lone sheep standing between him and utter annihilation. The swords that were protecting Von Stupor faded, opening him up once more.

_I need that card…_ Yami thought to himself, drawing. _Heart of the cards, guide me…_ He looked at his card and flinched. _This isn't what I need! At least it will definitely protect me further..._ "I will set one monster and end my turn!"

"I will destroy your M/T cards… with 'Harpie's Feather Duster'…" Von Stupor uttered as a large feather fan appeared before him and began to raise a gust.

"You have activated my trap card, 'Magic Jammer'! This card will negate your magic card and destroy it, as long as I discard one card from my hand!" Yami countered as Von Stupor clenched his fist. The eye on his mask glowed brighter.

"Fine, then…" Von Stupor grumbled. "My Dark Blade will attack your final Sheep Token… La Jinn will attack your set monster."

Von Stupor's knight chopped the final sheep in half as La Jinn attempted a fierce punch on Yami's set monster, Marshmallon. Struck by the blow, the white fluff ball fell backward, but poofed back into its original shape and smiled happily at La Jinn with its upside-down face.

"Marshmallon cannot be destroyed by battle, and when you attack it while it is face-down, you lose 1000 Life Points!" Yami explained.

"You… are very irritating…" Von Stupor hissed, ending his turn.

_He is recklessly throwing card after card at me,_ Yami thought to himself. _I'm glad that whatever this is isn't fully competent of the cards and strategies involved in this game, or he truly would be unstoppable. He has already used a lot of powerful cards, so he shouldn't be able to take down my Marshmallon just yet. All I can do for now is hope I draw that one card…_ "I set one monster and end my turn."

"I'll set one M/T card… end turn…"

_As much as he enjoys this, it seems he doesn't like having his time wasted_, Yami thought. _His desire for destruction overwhelms his enjoyment of it. As much damage as he causes, he is never satisfied and only thirsts for more. He is truly one of many prime examples of true evil. But where exactly did something as fiendish as this come from, and why would it be controlling Von Stupor's body?_ "I draw and end my turn."

"I sacrifice Dark Blade and tribute summon Great Maju Garzett…" Von Stupor said, staring at Yami's set monster. "I attack the face-down monster with Maju Garzett…"

"A foolhardy move, born of your own uncontrollable aggression," Yami responded, activating a set trap card. "You've activated my Mirror Force."

"_Rrgh!!!_" Von Stupor grunted.

As Maju Garzett swung its mighty arms down on the card, he was suddenly blown back by an unseen force, sending shards of light through every one of Von Stupor's monsters, defeating every one of them and clearing his field.

"_And now, this is it!_" Yami cried aloud as he drew his next card. "I have finally drawn the card that will turn the tide of this duel!"

"What…?" Von Stupor asked, confused.

"Up until now, you have been throwing your cards away left and right, leaving your hand entirely bare! Your aggression will play a vital role in your downfall as I play my magic card, _'Convulsion of Nature'!_"

Von Stupor and Yami's duel disks glowed for a moment, and Von Stupor looked at it, dumbfounded. Yami crossed his arms and smirked at Von Stupor.

"Not sure what's going on?" he asked. "Just look at your deck."

"Huh…? …_Raaaargh!!!_" Von Stupor roared as he saw his top card exposed.

"This card forces us both to flip our decks upside-down as long as it's on the field! From now on, Von Stupor, we'll see what cards are in each others' hands, so there can be no further cheating between us! You'll have to think one step ahead now; _it's time to play fair!_"

Von Stupor's mask shot a magnificent glow of light around it as he roared, flaring his aura and shaking the entire building around them.

"_Yoooooou!!!_" shouted Von Stupor incomprehensibly. "_You will lose your soul!!!_"

"Defeat me, then! Or is having a powerful deck not enough for a simple-minded entity such as you?"

"How are you so strong…? Even against me?!" Von Stupor asked Yami, completely perturbed at his failure to end the duel.

"I am strong because I have the heart of the cards guiding me," Yami informed him. "All you have is your ability to cheat your way to victory. Once that's taken away, you're powerless."

"I will show you… true power… I draw, and summon Senju of the Thousand Hands," said Von Stupor. Senju appeared before him, a rock spirit with many hands spreading in all directions. "His effect activates… I'll move one ritual monster to my hand. End turn."

_A 'Mystical Space Typhoon' is his next card? Now that I can see Von Stupor's moves before he makes them, predicting his strategies should be easy. He's going to try and destroy my 'Convulsion of Nature' next turn,_ Yami thought to himself with a smirk. "If you claim to truly have this power… then let's see it. I'll draw and end this turn."

"Kah…" Von Stupor scoffed with a chuckle. "I'll destroy that card… with 'Mystical Space Typhoon'."

"Not quite! I activate my trap, 'Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell'! When I discard a card, this card negates and destroys your card, but in addition to this, you may not use any other cards by that name for the remainder of the duel!"

"I will still destroy it next turn!"

"I don't think so. Think back in the duel… you already used the most powerful and most commonly known cards for destroying magic and trap cards… 'Heavy Storm' and then 'Harpie's Feather Duster'. You can only have one of each of those cards in your deck, and now you can't even use 'Mystical Space Typhoon'. Try digging in Von Stupor's memory some more. He's no collector, and hardly a veteran duelist, merely gifted. He doesn't have many cards at his disposal and most if not all of them are old, so if you can think of another card to destroy this with, I'll be impressed. Looks to me like you're stuck."

Von Stupor pressed his finger to his temple and massaged it, the eye on his mask glowing fiercely. His aura came back again, flowing freely around his body. He was obviously furious.

"Impossible…" he uttered. "Impossible… You must die…"

"There's no running from this duel, Von Stupor. Whatever it is that's controlling you, rest assured that I will use the shadow of orichalcos to extract whatever it is controlling you from your body, so that it may never tarnish your noble image again!"

* * *

**The score is 2500 to 7000 in favor of Stupor, so this duel is still hardly any kind of fair. Will Yami defeat Stupor? Will Stupor claim Yami's soul and continue his rampage? Will they reach an impasse and be forced to part? See what happens next time!**

**And for all of you who have no pride in yourselves, I have another theme for the next chapter, if you merely send me an email with the subject "lutefisk"! See you then!  
**


	18. Chapter 18: Light

"Chapter 18: Light"

By: Agent Baron

Yami stared at Von Stupor, glowing with anger.

_This entity is very volatile,_ Yami thought to himself. _No matter how he reacts to defeat, however, I can only stride forward. If I give it any room to recover, I'll lose my soul! Fortunately, this is not Von Stupor; according to Marron, his soul had already been lost. He has a Sonic Bird on the top of his deck… that means he's obviously going to try and summon Relinquished in order to absorb my Marshmallon. Fortunately, I have just the card that will stop him in his tracks again, although it will bring me even closer to defeat. I have no choice, however…_ "I'll play 'Delinquent Duo'. By paying 1000 Life Points, this card forces you to discard one card at random from your hand, and you discard another of your choosing. This eliminates the last two cards in your hand, and your ability to summon Relinquished."

"I summon the Sonic Bird… and I'll bring one ritual magic card to my hand," Von Stupor huffed. "End turn."

"I was lucky to have my 'Delinquent Duo', but I have nothing to counter the 'Wave-Motion Cannon' at the top of his deck," Yami said to himself. "It's clear that he's trying to end this quickly since I only have 1200 Life Points left. I'll just have to trust in my cards that I'll get the card I need in time." Yami then set one monster and ended his turn.

"I play 'Wave-Motion Cannon'... Then La Jinn attacks your set monster…" Von Stupor ordered.

As La Jinn rushed the card, D. D. Warrior Lady leapt from it. She swung her sword at La Jinn fiercely, but was blocked by a magical wall La Jinn created. La Jinn responded with a harsh punch to the warrior lady and she fell, beaten. As this happened, the wave-motion cannon appeared on Von Stupor's field and began its charging.

_A Man-Eater Bug is next? Now he's putting up his defenses in preparation for the 'Wave-Motion Cannon',_ Yami thought. "I'll remove one LIGHT-type and one DARK-type monster in my graveyard from play to special summon the Chaos Sorcerer!"

The Chaos Sorcerer emerged from a dark portal and grinned at Von Stupor. Clothed in black clothing save black leather straps that decorated his upper torso, his eyes glowed from under his black hood. One of his hands glowed violet while another had a bright yellow color.

"This monster has a special affect," Yami continued. "where instead of attacking, I may remove one monster on the field from play, and I will choose your Great Maju Garzett!" _This way, I can at least take down most of his offensive power, even if I can't best it through attack!_

The Chaos Sorcerer formed a dark portal in front of him and fired a beam of light which ensnared the Great Maju Garzett. Slowly but surely, the behemoth was dragged into the portal, never to be seen again.

Von Stupor growled and his mask's eye flared. He was breathing heavily, struggling to maintain control of his emotion. "I… set one monster…" he whispered.

_That must be his Man-Eater Bug, and he's planning on using a 'Change of Heart' next turn,_ Yami observed mentally._ His tactics are becoming erratic, and a little difficult to prepare for all at once. He'll probably use the Man-Eater Bug to destroy my Chaos Sorcerer once it's flipped… so is the 'Change of Heart' a contingency plan to control my Chaos Sorcerer if his monster fails? What's more pressing is that cannon, but thankfully I just drew a card that will take care of that!_ "I'll summon Breaker the Magical Warrior! This is a special monster that is equipped with a magic counter as soon as it enters play. This magic counter boosts its attack by 300, bringing its total attack to 1900. Or, I can remove this counter in order to destroy one spell or trap on the field; namely your 'Wave-Motion Cannon!"

A knight clad in red armor bearing resemblance to the Dark Magician appeared on the field. With it, it held a long single-handed sword and a long shield. It held its shield out and a gem in the middle shot a beam at the decorative cannon that stood before Von Stupor, shattering it.

"Next, I'll play a 'Change of Heart' of my own on your set monster, the Man-Eater Bug! I'll now flip summon it to destroy your La Jinn, and activate my Chaos Sorcerer's ability to remove Senju of the Thousand Hands from the game! Man-Eater Bug, attack Von Stupor's Life Points directly!"

As the Chaos Sorcerer banished Senju to another realm, the Man-Eater Bug leapt from its card, surprising La Jinn. It clamped onto La Jinn's head, eating his head off. Upon finishing, it made a quick slash at Von Stupor, depleting 750 of his Life Points.

"I play 'Change of Heart' on your Chaos Sorcerer…" Von Stupor flatly stated. "Controlling it for this turn, I'll use its effect to rid myself of Marshmallon, and Sonic Bird attacks Breaker the Magical Warrior… Man-Eater Bug will attack you directly…"

Von Stupor's bird charged up its Rocket Pack and went soaring straight through Breaker's armor and out the other side of his body. As this happened, the Man-Eater bug leapt over to Yami's side of the field and gave a fierce slash to his lower torso, dropping his Life Points to a slight 450. The Chaos Sorcerer hurled Marshmallon into its portal.

_I can't take much more damage…_ Yami thought to himself. _One more good hit and I'm finished… but I'll never lose faith in the heart of the cards! I need them more than ever, if not to save myself, then to save Von Stupor's body! He has Relinquished as his next card… there's nothing I can do now to hold it off..._ "I'll set one M/T and I'll use the Chaos Sorcerer to remove the Sonic Bird from play."

The Sonic Bird, attempting to fly away from the Chaos Sorcerer, charged up its rocket pack and took off. However, the sorcerer merely opened a portal in front of it and unable to recover, the Sonic Bird flew straight into it.

"Now… I win…" said Von Stupor with a sickly gleeful tone. "I'll play 'Black Illusion Ritual'… sacrificing the Man-Eater Bug, I ritual summon Relinquished, and I'll use it to absorb your Chaos Sorcerer."

Relinquished burst from its pot, fueled by the goblets full of the Man-Eater Bug's essence. Inhaling the unsuspecting Chaos Sorcerer into its torso cavity, it closed its shoulder flaps over itself and around its one eye and the sorcerer's face emerged on one of them.

"My monster's attack and defense are equal to that of the absorbed monster… and I'll use Relinquished to attack you directly… Ha ha ha…" Von Stupor stated.

"There is no better chance than this!" cried Yami. "Activate 'Magical Cylinder'!"

Relinquished's blast soared into a multicolored cylinder and disappeared.

"You've activated my trap," Yami told Von Stupor. "'Magical Cylinder takes your attack… and throws it right back at your Life Points!"

"Guhh…?!" Von Stupor grunted as he noticed a second cylinder beside him glowing brightly. Suddenly, a blast came from it and struck Von Stupor, knocking him completely over and blowing his Life Points to 3700.

"…And it's too late to change your mind on what card you were going to bring out," said Yami with a smirk. "You thought you were safe, and decided to go on the offensive. You were going to bring out the Dark Blade on your next turn."

"What… are… you… talking… about…?" asked Von Stupor between heavy, agitated breaths.

"Watch, as you meet the harbinger of your defeat! I'll play the magic card 'Dark Magic Curtain'! By paying half of my Life Points, I may summon the Dark Magician! And because he is now in play, I may play my magic card 'Black Magic Attack', which destroys all of your set M/T cards!"

The large curtain that had appeared in front of Yami drew back, and there floated the Dark Magician. Aiming its rod at Von Stupor's magic cards, it shots blasts at each of them, blowing them away. One of them struck Relinquished, wiping out the equipped Chaos Sorcerer and leaving him vulnerable to attack.

"Now your Relinquished is vulnerable to attack! Dark Magician, attack Relinquished with Black Magic Attack!" Yami ordered.

The Dark Magician aimed its wand at Relinquished and fired a heavy bolt into its torso cavity, exploding it from within and knocking Von Stupor's Life Points down to 1200.

"Gah… gah… you…" Von Stupor sputtered.

"Only one card remains in your hand, Von Stupor. Summon your Dark Blade."

"I… one more turn… good card…"

The Dark Blade appeared in front of Von Stupor, but remained in a kneeling defensive position. It thumped its chest with a fist and allowed its swords to drop from its hands, as if accepting its defeat.

"I summon the Copycat," called Yami over Von Stupor's mumbling. "and copy the Dark Blade's attack and defense! Next, I'll attack the Dark Blade with Dark Magician, and then I'll attack you directly with the Copycat! And now, a message from the real Baron Von Stupor… _you lose!!!_"

The Dark Magician blasted the Dark Blade apart as Yami's Copycat, bearing the Dark Blade's appearance, dashed to Von Stupor and delivered a finishing slash across his chest, knocking him down and reducing his Life Points to 0.

Von Stupor, leaping to his feet, clutched his mask tightly and began wretching. A dark aura began to grow around him and the eye began to glow brightly.

"You… _you die!!!_" Von Stupor screamed at Yami, and fired a dark blast at him.

Yami, in reflex, countered the blast with one from his own Millennium Puzzle, and fired one more at Von Stupor, striking him in his chest and slamming him against the seal's border.

The seal began to close around Von Stupor, though he still resisted. He fired another blast at Yami, who again countered the blast with his own, then fired several fierce shots at Von Stupor. He bounced against the seal's border multiple times and collapsed to his knees. The seal closed around him and Yami could hear the entity's frenzied screams as it was extracted from Von Stupor's body. When the light cleared, all that remained was a purple sphere floating about the air. The fog of shadows cleared, and the purple sphere containing the entity dissipated with it, leaving only Von Stupor's empty shell of a body.

Yami approached it and rolled Von Stupor over to notice something very peculiar about him.

"The mask…" he said. "It's… white?"

_I remember asking Von Stupor about his new mask… he told me it had changed when the Millennium Eye fused with it and that now it resembled the Mask of Truth. But he also said that the Mask of Truth was supposed to be white. If it was purple at first… and black when Von Stupor left it… and white now that the evil entity has been removed… then perhaps that was merely the darkness from the mask itself… the sin of this mask gaining a consciousness of its own. That's why it barely knew what it was, and operated primarily off of Von Stupor's memory._

_Now that this darkness is gone, the mask is now pure, devoid of sin. Now Baron Von Stupor--when I rescue his soul-- can begin a new future with this mask, a future of good deeds that will form a new image in this mask's name._

"The odds were stacked entirely against you," buzzed Marron, who had not moved. "You were not expected to succeed."

"I won because I had infinite trust in my deck and my monsters," Yami told Marron. "I hope one day you can understand this the same way that I do."

"Unfortunately, I am in no condition to protect Master Dartz."

'It's alright. You have always tried your best, Marron. As long as you give it your all, no one can expect any more from you."

"Why did you defend me?"

"Because as far as I am concerned, you have just as much of a soul as anyone else I've met. You display the intelligence and reasoning. Just because you are artificial doesn't mean that you don't have some kind of soul."

"I am not entirely artificial. Master Dartz insisted that my organic structure remain intact."

"What?! Organic?"

"Yes. It provides the basic structure for my movement."

"You have… bones inside of you? Whose bones?"

"Kghghgh… classified."

Yami sighed, and stood up.

"If you are safe here, then I'll come back for you, if I can. For now, I have to deal with Dartz personally."

"If you assist me, I will be forced to defend Master Dartz again."

"You always have a choice Marron. As long as you have reasoning, you always have a choice. You have the power to choose to follow your programming just as much as you can choose to resist it. You're no different from me or any other living thing… my heart tells me that."

Marron didn't respond as Yami ventured deeper into the building.


	19. Chapter 19: Rebirth

"Chapter 19- Rebirth"

By: Agent Baron

_I see a luminous field… the grass is thin, yet bushy…_

_There is nothing else here but grass… the luminescence presents a light, peaceful feeling…_

_Everything has such an angelic glow… birds are chirping, but none are visible…_

_I march through the grass, and while everything is so peaceful, I feel so… alone…_

_Something is wrong here… but I feel drawn to the center of the field…_

_I walk to the center… something there glows… I approach it…_

_A plant… I bend down to look at it… the flowers are pretty… clustered together…_

_Small white petals… a yellow pistil protruding from each bloom…_

_I recognize this… it's… a potato flower…_

Baron Von Stupor slowly opened his eyes. He found himself sitting on a bench, leaning to the side. He appeared to be inside some sort of vehicle, but he couldn't identify it. In front of what appeared to be a hangar door, he found a motorcycle sitting up in a stand, as if it were designed to roll out the opened door. On the wall to his right was a door.

"You have awakened," Von Stupor heard come from a nearby speaker. He turned to see Marron on the floor in a heap.

"Was that you who spoke?" he asked.

"Yes, I am. It seems Master Dartz has been defeated."

"Dartz? Defeated?"

Von Stupor looked down at himself and realized he was now in his body again.

"I have returned! So everyone's souls have been returned?"

"If you have returned, then I would assume so."

"Why aren't you attacking me?"

Marron explained to Von Stupor about the atrocities which had been committed by the entity controlling him. Von Stupor was horrified, but happy to know that at least it had not been because of any action on his part, nor anything he could have done anything about.

"What exactly was it that was controlling my body…?" he asked, still a bit perturbed.

"I do not know," replied Marron. "and it did not seem to know, either. However, the Pharaoh managed to finally end its rampage by defeating it in a duel."

"Yami defeated it? My… he has certainly gotten stronger…"

"I definitely understand why Master Dartz wanted his soul so badly."

"Where are we?"

"We are on Master Dartz's island."

"Dartz's island…?"

"Raphael brought us here via helicopter."

"Is Engar here?"

"Yes, I believe he came here with Master Dartz to protect him."

Von Stupor clenched his fist.

"I must go after him," Von Stupor said to Marron, and exited the helicopter. "It's a good thing I have… my…"

Von Stupor's voice trailed off as he noticed that he had no deck in his duel disk.

"_Damn it!_" he shouted, and ran back into the helicopter, approaching Marron. "Where's my other deck?!"

"Your deck was dropped off at the Paradius headquarters shortly before Mai and I dueled you, for safe keeping in case I was destroyed."

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! I lost another deck!" Von Stupor ranted, flailing his arms about.

"You can always build another deck."

Von Stupor stamped his foot angrily. "I don't have cards for a new deck! I used all of my remaining monsters for my _last_ deck that you stole from me!"

"Monster cards are not required for a standard duel monsters deck."

Von Stupor stopped for a moment and thought to himself.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? An all magic and trap card deck? I don't know if I have the cards for it to be any good…"

"If you want your deck back from Engar, you have no other choice."

Von Stupor dropped his arms to his sides. Seeing no alternative, he left the helicopter to look for Engar while extracting his miniscule collection from his cope and sifting through his cards, building his new deck.

Sighing at the diminutive size of his shrinking collection, he said to himself, "Well, it's not really a matter of what to put in my deck anymore. It's a matter of what to take out of it!"

As he stepped inside the elegant palace, there laid a huge corridor with many blank squares lining the walls, ceiling, and floor. At the other end of the corridor stood three mighty snake statues emitting the chamber's light and two large eye carvings on the wall. Von Stupor sat for a short while figuring his deck when suddenly he heard a familiar voice from up ahead.

"What the hell are you doing here?" it asked.

Von Stupor looked up to see Baron Von Engar stepping into the hall.

"You!" Von Stupor shot at him, surprised, and stood up. He continued ruffling through his cards and trying to build his new deck. "Give me my deck back!"

"You're still after that deck?" he asked.

"Give it back, so I don't have to work with _this!_" Von Stupor spat, showing him all of the magic and trap cards he was looking at.

"I thought you were gone forever," he said, ignoring Von Stupor. "…And you mean to tell me that even after you had lost your soul, you have the nerve to come chase me still and risk losing it again… for _cards_?"

"My heart and soul are in those cards! They rightfully belong to me! They have sentimental value!"

"Don't talk to me about sentimental value. You stole every form of sentiment I had from me. What you've lost, compared to my anguish… it's nothing."

"I didn't do anything to you, now _give-me-my-deck-back!_"

"_Stop screaming like a little child!_ Shut up! You don't deserve that deck, and you're lucky you still have your soul! You're lucky you got your job back at Industrial Illusions, you're lucky your friends got saved. What did I get back from this? _Nothing!_ I didn't even get a proper revenge against you."

"Just who the hell are you, Engar?!"

"You don't deserve to know. All you deserve is the hard boot of justice stomping on your skull, repeatedly… repeatedly, until you stop _moving._"

Von Stupor simply looked on at Engar in silence for a moment, then continued riffling through his cards frantically.

"Why do you hate me so much?" he asked Engar.

"I've already told you why. And quite frankly, seeing you any longer is only causing me to get angrier and angrier." Engar began pacing back and forth.

"By risking your soul in these duels… in the end, do you really have anything to lose from them?" Von Stupor inquired.

"Just a crappy solitary existence. No one to love… no one to run to… nowhere to go… I don't really have anything to lose. If I lost my soul… fate would only be doing me a favor."

"And it's all because of me?"

"Think about it. Think long and hard."

"Wait… so really, taking my deck wasn't your revenge…?"

"That was only the beginning. I wanted to bring you down to my level. Weak on the inside… scared of what's to come… no faith in the future, only blindly fighting, hoping that things will happen to fall in your favor. And so far, for you they have. Me too, in a sense."

"I must admit, Engar… your plan worked at first."

"What?"

"Well… when you first took my deck, I wasn't sure I could fight without it. After all, that deck is… well, more or less it's who I am. But I remember a long time ago, when I lost my beautiful cope. I had to duel without it, and I was so shaky."

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"_I… I want my cope…" Von Stupor stuttered. "I feel so… naked…"_

"_Well, I'm pretty sure that thing meant a lot to you, but it's no reason to act all screwy. Come on, it's just a coat!" Joey reasoned._

"_No!" shrieked Von Stupor, grabbing Joey by his jacket. Everyone became nervous._

"_Does he always act like this?" Duke whispered to Yugi._

"_No, he really doesn't! He's actually a nice guy!" said Yugi, not knowing what to do._

"_That wasn't just a coat; it was a cope! Not just any cope; my cope, the cope of Baron Von Stupor! Without it, I am not even a baron at all…" he whimpered, letting go of Joey. "My… my trademark…"_

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"My friends helped me through that difficult ordeal. I learned that it doesn't matter what trademarks I have, as long as I know who I am, I'll never lose sight of that. I have nothing to be afraid of as long as I believe in myself!"

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

_Von Stupor sighed and said, "My cope is my trademark. It is who I am. One cannot lose track of who they are, or one is lost. Without my cope, I—"_

"_No way!" Joey cut him off. "Cope or no cope, you're definitely Von Stupor! I mean, there's your deck, the way you word your sentences, and lots of other things! You don't have just one trademark! Besides, who needs a trademark to tell people who they are? As long as you know who you are, then you won't be lost at all! Who cares what other people know you by?"_

"_Yeah," Tristan added. "Who really cares? If you know who you are, then that's all that matters! Nobody can tell you otherwise."_

"_Perhaps… Perhaps you are correct. Perhaps though my cope is very near and dear to me, it is not necessary to maintain proper identity. Perhaps… it is a mere accessory and is thusly expendable…" contemplated Von Stupor, taking off Yugi's jacket. "Yugi, I shall not need this anymore. Thank you, all. I shall progress through the finals copeless, but strong."_

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"I had almost lost sight of this until my friend Yugi told me something very important a while ago. He said, 'As long as you put your heart and soul into your deck, the possibilities are limitless. Just have faith in your monsters and the heart of the cards and you can defeat any enemy.'"

Von Stupor, giving up, piled his cards together, shuffled them, and loaded them into his duel disk.

"There's just one problem, Stupor. Doesn't look like you have any monster cards to have faith in."

"Even without monsters, I'll always have the liver of the cards. That is the difference between you and me, Engar. You've lost sight of yourself and who you are. You are weak and too scared to have faith in anything. Your spirit is either weak or broken, and you hide behind that mask so no one has to see the frightened child in your soul. I, however, have complete faith in my abilities and who I am. No matter what, I will always keep sight of who I am and I'll keep fighting no matter how few monsters I have if I even have any at all. Engar, your search for power and revenge has only served to make you weaker, and I will demonstrate this to you with my new deck!"

Engar growled, clenching his fists.

"_Fine!_ If that's what you want, then let's settle the score! I'll grind you into the dirt, right where you belong!" he suddenly shouted, readying his duel disk.

_I don't need monsters to defeat Baron Von Engar,_ Von Stupor thought to himself. _As long as I put my heart and soul into my deck and believe in my monsters as well as the liver of the cards, I can defeat any opponent!_

* * *

**Here it comes! The long-awaited climactic rematch between Baron Von Stupor and his nemesis, Baron Von Engar! For Baron Von Stupor, it all boils down to this mighty duel! Stay tuned for his greatest battle yet!**

**For those who are excited enough, there is a theme for the next chapter. Just send me an email with the subject "I'm glad I'm not a beach cow." and I will forward the theme to you as I post chapter 20!  
**


	20. Chapter 20: Power

"Chapter 20: Power"

By: Agent Baron

Baron Von Stupor has finally caught up with the enigmatic Baron Von Engar, tracing him straight back to Dartz's very hideout. Dartz seemingly defeated, after an exchange of words the barons finally begin a final duel to settle their score. Baron Von Stupor is left with a greatly weakened deck consisting entirely of magic and trap cards while Baron Von Engar is fighting full force, as always. Baron Von Stupor seems unshaken by the steep odds and has placed his full faith into his cards and himself.

"I'll start off by playing 'Spell Absorption'," Engar stated. "This continuous magic card allows me to gain 500 Life Points every time a magic card is played! Next, I'll play a card you know all too well… on my first turn, I drew 'Seal of Orichalcos'!"

"You using that card doesn't surprise me in the slightest," Von Stupor sighed as the field was sealed within the orichalcos's border.

"Hah. I'll now set one M/T and summon the Flame Ruler."

A man in a red trench coat appeared. His blue spiky hair stood out from the fiery aura surrounding him.

"I'll set two M/T and play 'Wave-Motion Cannon'!" Von Stupor announced. "Now as turns pass, my cannon will increase in power until I choose to fire it! That ends my turn."

As an elaborate cannon appeared on Engar's field, glowing spheres of light flew from it into Engar, raising his Life Points to 8500.

"Huh… well, I have something like that of my own," Engar spouted. "It's called the Solar Flare Dragon! As long as this card is face-up on the field, you take 500 damage to your Life Points at the end of every one of my turns!"

As Engar said this, the Solar Flare Dragon roared and fire escaped from its gaping maw, engulfing Von Stupor and reducing his Life Points to 7500.

"I draw… and I'll play 'Mystical Space Typhoon' on your 'Spell Absorption'! It is now destroyed and you will gain no more Life Points from magic cards!"

"I still benefit from your magic card before my 'Spell Absorption' is destroyed!"

As Von Stupor's typhoon blew away Engar's magic card, the same spheres of light revitalized Engar, giving him a 1500 point lead over Von Stupor.

"And now I'll order my Solar Flare Dragon to attack your Life Points!"

Engar's serpent launched a fireball at Von Stupor, clad in spiked armor, who managed to block it with his forearm and send it careening back at the Solar Flare Dragon, felling it.

"What happened?" Engar asked, surprised.

"I activated a trap card called Sakuretsu armor! When you declare an attack, this trap destroys the attacking monster!" replied Von Stupor.

Engar stared hard at Von Stupor's set cards and decided to end his turn without attacking any further.

_Gah! I have to find a way to stop him from burning me or I'll never last…_ Von Stupor thought to himself. "I'll set two M/T cards and end my turn!"

"I'll set one M/T and summon The Thing in the Crater, and I'll use it to attack your Life Points directly!"

"Not so fast!" Von Stupor countered as the large hole opened in the ground. "I'll activate my trap, 'Nightmare Wheel'!"

Suddenly, out from the hole emerged a creature that greatly resembled a human butt. It had four scrawny appendages and was strapped to a spiked wheel. Its mouth opened sideways as it roared.

"That thing looks disgusting…" Von Stupor commented.

"I've… never seen it pulled out of the crater before," Engar responded, equally disturbed.

"…Anyway, this continuous trap card prevents your monster from attacking, and during each of my Standby Phases, you take 500 Life Points of damage!"

"Fine then, I'll attack you with the Flame Ruler!"

"I'll counter that with a quick-play magic card, 'Enemy Controller'! Of its two effects, I choose to change the battle position of your Flame Ruler to defense!"

Engar's Flame Ruler stopped dead in its tracks and dropped to one knee, guarding itself.

"Damn it!" Engar swore. "Main Phase Two, I change Flame Ruler back to attack position and end my turn!"

As Von Stupor drew, the nightmare wheel rotated once and Engar's Life Points fell to 8500. Von Stupor set one M/T and ended his turn.

"First I'll activate 'Backfire'!" Engar announced. This card inflicts 500 points of damage to your Life Points every time a FIRE-type monster is destroyed on my side of the field! Next, I'll attack you directly with my Flame Ruler!" The Flame Ruler stepped forward to attack.

Von Stupor lunged at it, wearing Sakuretsu Armor and blocked the monster's swing, countering with a roundhouse kick of his own. The Flame Ruler stumbled back and fell over, destroyed. He exploded, and a burning ember from him hit Von Stupor in his chest, dealing 500 points of damage.

"That card's getting on my nerves," Engar grumbled and ended his turn.

"I draw, and you take 500 more points of damage from 'Nightmare Wheel'!" Von Stupor announced, and ended his turn.

"I draw… and I've got no monsters to summon. Thankfully, neither do you. End turn."

"I draw… I'll activate my set 'Scapegoat', and summon four Sheep Tokens."

Engar set one more M/T and ended his turn, and Von Stupor mirrored the move.

"All right. I'm getting a little tired of your wheel racking up damage on me, so I'm going to activate my trap, 'Call of the Haunted'. This allows me to bring back a monster for free, a là 'Premature Burial', except I'll tribute my thing in the crater with my revived Solar Flare Dragon to tribute summon my great monster, the Infernal Flame Emperor!"

A fiery pillar engulfed Engar's field and gave birth to a mighty creature. It consisted entirely of flames, and bore a similar appearance to a winged centaur with a lion's head. It loosed a mighty roar that shook the entire building.

"Don't think I've forgotten about that 'Wave-Motion Cannon' you've played earlier, Stupor," said Engar. "You could have used that at any time to land a devastating blow to my Life Points, makes me wonder why you haven't used it by now. My guess is that it's pretty much there to ensure a victory in eight turns, but not really your concern if you lose it."

Von Stupor merely stared at Engar.

"Well," he continued. "I'm on to your game… but I still don't want that thing firing at me, so believe you me, I'll take full advantage of my Infernal Flame Emperor's effect and remove three of my FIRE-type monsters in my graveyard from play to destroy the same number of M/T cards on your side of the field, clearing it entirely!"

Just before the emperor's mighty fireballs destroyed all of Von Stupor's cards, four sheep emerged from one of them, protecting Von Stupor's Life Points from harm.

"Ahaha… stubborn to the very end. I wouldn't expect any less from you," Engar commented. "Infernal Flame Emperor, destroy one of the Sheep Tokens with your fiery wrath!"

The mighty creature launched a fireball at one of the sheep and incinerated it.

"I draw… I set one M/T and I shift one of my Sheep Tokens to attack mode," said Von Stupor, Engar backing up a step.

"Why in the world would you ever want to do that?!" Engar sputtered in reply.

"Because I wish to use this monster to deal massive damage to your Life Points! I activate 'Creature Swap'! Since you have no alternative, I'll get to have your Infernal Flame Emperor while I'll choose for you to have my lone attack-position Sheep Token! Even though it has zero attack, at least it will get the 500 point boost from your 'Seal of Orichalcos'... Though I don't think it will help much in this case."

"_No!_" Engar shouted in shock.

"Infernal Flame Emperor… attack the Sheep Token!"

As the monsters reappeared on the respective controllers' sides of the field, the flame emperor loosed a loud roar as it scooped up the attack position Sheep Token and squashed it between its fingers. Engar's Life Points dropped straight to 4800.

Engar growled and clenched his fist at Von Stupor. Drawing his card, he crossed his arms.

"Say, Stupor… did you know that it's possible to make the seal of orichalcos even more powerful?" he asked.

"Wha…? What are you talking about?" Von Stupor answered, confused.

"Well… you see, turns out Dartz was holding back. He was keeping only the most powerful cards for himself! I managed to get a few of them out of his deck, just after he was defeated."

_Oh, no…_ Von Stupor thought. _This is not good…_

"How about I show you one of the cards I grabbed? I'll set one M/T and play the field magic card, 'Orichalcos Deuteros'!"

Suddenly, the field rumbled as the seal's blue light grew brighter. Von Stupor noticed a second row of symbols appear just outside the seal.

"What is happening??" Von Stupor asked, a bit fearful.

"I just strengthened the power of the seal of orichalcos, so now in addition to the effects of 'Seal of Orichalcos', during each of my end phases I'll gain 500 Life Points for every monster I have on the field!"

"That's preposterous! That card is quite overpowered!"

"That's the point, my friend!" Engar began laughing. "Who's weak now?! I'll summon the Great Angus and end my turn!"

_I… cannot believe this…_ Von Stupor thought as Engar's Life Points rose back to 5300. _Every ounce of damage I do to him will be undone, only because he has monsters on the field, and the more monsters he has, the more powerful he becomes!_

"So Stupor, I must point out again that you don't have any monsters to place your faith in. How can _you_ possibly hope to beat _me?!_"

Von Stupor gritted his teeth, unsure of how to respond.

* * *

**Is Stupor a fool to use an all M/T deck against Engar, especially with his overpowered 'Orichalcos Deuteros' card? Okay, stupid question. Is Stupor a fool to fight so fiercely for a material possession? Or do you think there's a little more to it? Do you think he'll even survive Engar's onslaught?**

**A side note, there is another chapter theme for next chapter. Email me with the subject 'Do Not Mesmerize Lizard With Uniquely Delicious Corn Pops' and I'll send you the theme as soon as I post the chapter! Until next time!  
**


	21. Chapter 21: Faith

"Chapter 21: Faith"

By: Agent Baron

Baron Von Stupor demonstrates his revived faith in his cards as well as himself while Baron Von Engar continues to pound down on him with brute force, going so far as to even strengthen the seal of orichalcos with his new card, 'Orichalcos Deuteros'. Baron Von Stupor's resolve may waver, but his faith is everlasting as he now fights for more than just his deck; he fights to save his very soul.

"What are you gonna do, Stupor? Still think you have what it takes to take me on?" Engar taunted, laughing.

"If I back down now… you will learn nothing from this duel," Von Stupor responded. "I will use the Infernal Flame Emperor to attack your Great Angus!"

"You walked right into my trap! I activate my quick-play magic card, 'Order to Charge'! This card allows me to select one normal monster on my side of the field and offer it as a tribute to destroy one of yours! The Infernal Flame Emperor is no more!"

As the Infernal Flame Emperor launched a fireball at the Great Angus, the Great Angus suddenly sprang forward and charged straight into the flames and thrashed about. It dissipated the Flame Emperor, sending embers everywhere at the cost of its own destruction. One of the embers landed on top of Von Stupor's head, sending his Life Points to 6500.

"Now I'll set one monster and one M/T… that ends my turn. As per 'Orichalcos Deuteros', I now gain 500 more Life Points!" Engar boasted.

_Engar's Life Points have now raised to 5800…_ Von Stupor thought, frustrated. _He's not only fighting with brute force, but he has stolen Dartz's overpowered cards and is using them against me to their full effect! How do I combat that?_ "I set one M/T and end my turn…"

"Now I'll summon a friend I'm sure you've met before… my Solar Flare Dragon! Solar Flare Dragon attacks another Sheep Token, leaving you with only one left!"

Engar's dragon appeared once more and quickly gobbled up one of Von Stupor's remaining sheep prior to vomiting a fireball at Von Stupor.

_Urg… I can't allow that fiend to stay on the field or it will continue to burn away my Life Points every time Engar ends a turn!_ Von Stupor thought to himself, clutching his chest where the fireball struck him._ And the entire time, he's gaining life points from the seal; as of now he's at 6800… there must a hole somewhere… there must be a way I can win!_ "Feel the burn of your own monster, as I activate Snatch Steal on Solar Flare Dragon!"

A thief leapt out of Von Stupor's card wearing a black spandex mask with red lines outlining the eyes. It bore a blue baseball cap and toted with it a large water rifle. It landed behind the Solar Flare Dragon and proceeded to blast it repeatedly. The dragon did not like this, and moved to get away by floating to Von Stupor's field.

"Now I'll use your dragon to attack your set monster!" Von Stupor commanded as the thief squirted the dragon and pointed at Engar's set monster.

The dragon obeyed its master and fired a breath at the monster. An eyeball burst from it and exploded from the shock and embers rained down on Von Stupor due to Engar's 'Backfire' card.

"That blasted card…" Von Stupor cursed, shielding himself.

As Von Stupor ended his turn, the dragon roared at Engar, blowing fire in his direction and burning 500 of his Life Points as per its effect.

"Because of your 'Snatch Steal', I gain 1000 points back during my Standby Phase," Engar commented. "And I hope you enjoyed using my monster, because that won't last long."

"Oh, no…"

"I'm going to power up the seal even further with my field magic card, 'Orichalcos Tritos'! Now in addition to all other effects so far, I can now negate the effects of all opponent's cards that target monsters I control!"

The seal glowed bright blue and began to spin around as yet another layer of symbols circled the two duelists ominously. As the symbols aligned into place, the seal stopped with a fierce crack, and the orichalcos symbol on Engar's mask began to shine brighter than ever. The eyes glowed a deep crimson as he began laughing.

"How much more powerful can that thing get?!" Von Stupor asked himself, his head throbbing from the pressure being placed on him. "Now most of my cards are useless against him, since I cannot even go after his monsters…"

"That's right Stupor! You can't attack me because you have no monsters. You can't use magic cards or trap cards because they won't affect my monsters! Your deck is now completely _useless!_"

"My deck is not useless yet… I know I can still win…"

"_Shut up!_ Solar Flare Dragon, attack his Sheep Token!"

In a mighty breath of fire, the dragon cooked the sheep until a black husk remained. Afterwards, it turned to Baron Von Stupor and blasted a fireball at him, dropping his Life Points to 5500. Baron Von Stupor drew his next card and with a sigh, ended his turn.

Baron Von Engar chuckled, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "I should have known better than to think you'd actually be a challenge, even after this long journey. I'll play the magic card 'Premature Burial'! At the cost of 800 Life Points, I may revive on of my monsters from the graveyard with this card equipped to it. If either card is destroyed, both cards go down with it! I'll choose my old friend, Solar Flare Dragon!"

Engar's second Solar Flare Dragon wormed its way out of the floor and challenged Baron Von Stupor once more.

"Next," Engar continued. "I'll summon my Ultimate Baseball Kid! The bonus he receives from the seal of orichalcos and my monsters brings his attack to a grand total of 3000! My dragons, attack his two remaining sheep!"

Engar's duo made short work of Baron Von Stupor's Sheep Tokens, leaving him with an open field.

"Ultimate Baseball Kid… attack this chump directly!" Engar ordered.

"I activate another 'Scapegoat'!" Von Stupor said quickly.

Engar stamped his foot impatiently. "How many of those damned cards do you have?!"

"Give me a break!" Stupor responded. "Don't get mad, at least you have attacking power!"

"Bah! You're right. You can't hide behind those sheep forever, anyway. Ultimate Baseball Kid, destroy one of those sheep!"

Engar's baseball kid rushed over and hit one of the sheep as hard as it could with its bat. The sheep bounced off Von Stupor's mask and flew out of sight.

"And now… my dragons' effect!" Engar boasted as the dragons prepared to fry Von Stupor.

"Not yet!" shouted Von Stupor. "I'll use my trap card 'Solemn Judgment'! This allows me to halve my Life Points in order to negate any card's effect and destroy the card! I am not targeting your monster as I am targeting and negating the _effect of a card!_ Your Solar Flare Dragon without 'Premature Burial' equipped is destroyed!"

A bearded man in a white robe appeared before Von Stupor and pointed at the Solar Flare Dragon. The dragon appeared surprised and submissively sank into the floor, disappearing.

"What are you planning…?" Engar asked Von Stupor as his lone dragon and 'Backfire' card shot away 1000 more of Von Stupor's Life Points.

"I'll now draw and play 'Heavy Storm'!" Von Stupor announced, ignoring Engar. "This will destroy all M/T cards on the field, namely your 'Premature Burial'! As you said, your dragon is now destroyed!"

A strong wind circled the area, circling the duelists and destroying Engar's 'Premature Burial' and 'Backfire' cards. His Solar Flare Dragon cried in pain and turned back into ashes.

_Now I can no longer be damaged by his damned 'Backfire' card,_ Von Stupor thought to himself. _But I still have a huge problem regarding the seal of orichalcos…_ "Lastly, I play another 'Wave-Motion Cannon'!"

"You just keep on fighting, huh?!" Engar asked him. "Just don't know when to give up, huh?! Want me to pound you into the dirt?! I'll do that! I summon the Great Angus and attack you with both monsters!"

Another red beast stepped forth and threatened Von Stupor. While the Great Angus stomped down one sheep, the baseball kid smacked a fireball into another.

"It's time for you to make a choice, Engar," Von Stupor said to him lowly. "I'll set one M/T, shift a Sheep Token to attack mode and play the magic card 'Creature Swap'. We both select one monster and trade… this works because I'm targeting you, the duelist, and not your monsters! Of course I'll nominate my last sheep, while in attack position."

"Hah… no avoiding this blow, is there? I'll give you my Great Angus… you'll have less attack than my baseball kid anyway. His bonus comes from any FIRE-type monsters on the field, not just my side!"

"That's not part of my plan. I'll use the Great Angus to attack the Sheep Token!"

Von Stupor's newly acquired Great Angus charged across the field and stomped flat Engar's Sheep Token, sending his Life Points to 8700.

"You know, this is an amusing trick, Stupor, but it's getting old," Engar said to him. "Why don't you try something new?"

"Heh… Very well. I'll now play the continuous magic card 'Messenger of Peace'!"

Engar suddenly coughed harshly and stared at Von Stupor. "You're using _that card?!_" he cried, flabbergasted.

"Yes! Now at the cost of 100 Life Points during each of my Standby Phases, neither player can declare an attack with any monsters that have 1500 or more attack points! This card targets the players, not the monsters! Because I have the Great Angus permanently, your Ultimate Baseball Kid's attack will be at a permanent minimum of 2000!"

After thinking for a moment, Engar stood up straight and chuckled. "That's fine. Even if I can't attack you, I'm still gaining Life Points every turn. You can lock us all you want, but I'll always have more Life Points than you. Unless… you're trying to deck me?"

"Heh, heh…" Von Stupor chuckled, crossing his arms.

"You're not gonna deck me, Stupor. Wait... No, you're trying to lock me so you can finish me off with the wave-motion cannon. Well, I'll just summon the Little Chimera. This monster will increase the attack of all FIRE-type monsters on the field by 500, and it will also net me 500 more Life Points per turn thanks to 'Orichalcos Deuteros'! Now I'm gaining 1000 Life Points per turn while your cannon grows by 1000 per turn! That cannon's strength will never catch up with my Life Points!"

"Are you sure about that?" Von Stupor asked as green mist began to circle around him. As the wisps of mist came into clearer view, they began to resemble gaseous hands grasping about the air.

"What have you just done?"

"I've activated the trap card that will take you down," Von Stupor chuckled, feeling a deep sensation in his heart as his hopes suddenly lifted. "I actually got the one card that will turn this duel around…"

"What is this?"

"This is my trap card 'Bad Reaction to Simochi'. It takes any Life Point gain you receive, negates it, and reverses it so that it instead works as direct damage to your Life Points! Engar, your power has now become your poison!"

Engar's head cocked to the side. He stared at Von Stupor, as if unable to respond. Dropping his hands to his sides, he began to start chuckling. His chuckling shortly after turned into laughing.

"Stupor… you're a trip, you know that?"

"You are defeated, Engar!"

"No, Stupor… no, I'm not. Think about it. I have two monsters on the field. If I lose 1000 Life Points every turn, do you honestly think you'll survive the next nine turns against my Ultimate Baseball Kid's second effect?"

"S-second effect?"

"Yeah! You see, you have 2000 Life Points right now. And I can send one FIRE-type monster from my field to the graveyard to inflict 500 points of damage to your Life Points!"

"What?!"

"Yeah! And the best part is, once I do that, with the baseball kid being my only monster on the field, that means you instead have to wait _eighteen_ turns until you get rid of me! Sure, that cannon of yours is surely packing a punch by now, but you're never gonna get it strong enough by the time I sacrifice _four_ monsters. Just give up now, Stupor. You've lost."

Von Stupor's hands dropped to his sides.

_Unbelievable…_ he thought to himself. _I am so close to defeating him, and yet… he was still able to overpower me. Even still, he overpowered me... I even found a hole, but I didn't find it fast enough…_

Von Stupor thought for a few moments, then stood tall. He took a few heavy breaths and faced Baron Von Engar.

"Engar…" he said to him. "I made it quite clear when we began this duel that I would fight my hardest to the end. Like I said, I have placed my full faith into myself and my deck."

"…You're a pretty sad individual, Stupor. Even in the face of zero odds, you continue to fight, solely by principle. I'll admit, it's… kind of inspiring. Fine, then. At least you're going down honorably, nobly."

"Let's finish this, Engar."

"Heh… I'll send my Little Chimera to the Graveyard to inflict 500 points of damage to your Life Points!"

The Little Chimera turned into a flaming ball of fiery energy and the baseball kid hit it at Stupor. Flying at him like a bullet, it struck him in the stomach, causing him to double over. His Life Points dribbled to 1500.

"Give up yet?" Engar asked him. Von Stupor merely stood and drew a card prior to ending his turn. "Fine, then. I'll summon Gaia Soul, the Combustible Collective. Next, I'll send it to the graveyard to inflict more damage!"

The baseball kid hit another hard shot that struck Von Stupor in his mask with such force that he fell to the ground in a heap. Von Stupor stood back up, drew another card and ended his turn.

"I summon the Blazing Inpachi! Ultimate Baseball Kid, hit him again!"

Another shot struck Von Stupor in his leg, hitting it out from under him and knocking him to the ground. Standing up, his eyes flashed as he noticed his next card. He set one M/T and ended his turn.

"So… you're left with 500 Life Points… and you still think you can win?" Engar asked him. "I can only wonder what that M/T card is. You can't affect my monsters anymore, you've locked the field, I'm damaging you directly… what more could you possibly do?"

Von Stupor merely stared at him.

"What? I'm just telling the truth! And I'll tell you right now, I just drew another monster."

Von Stupor watched him and refused to say a word.

"Oh, you're going to be a sore loser now, huh? Got nothing to say? No more philosophical, inspirational words of wisdom? Mighty and Wise Great Sage Von Stupor? Eh… all good and well. I suppose when I beat you I won't have much to say anyway. I'll summon the UFO Turtle, and—"

"Wait," Von Stupor cut him off. "I'll activate my final trap card… 'Aegis of Gaia'."

"'Aegis of Gaia'…?"

"I gain 3000 Life Points. When this card is destroyed, I lose 3000 Life Points."

Lightning crackled around Von Stupor and the great earth spirit Gyakutenno Megami appeared before him and shined a magical light on him, increasing his Life Points to 3500. Engar quaked, knowing what this meant.

"If your mighty, unstoppable, stolen power can destroy this card, I lose. If you can't..." Von Stupor said to him.

"I… I-impossible…" Engar uttered in a low tone.

"In two turns, I will launch my Wave-Motion Cannon, and it will take you down to 1500 Life Points," Von Stupor informed him. "Even if you strike me down with a monster every single turn, I will still win with 2500 Life Points remaining. There is no possible way you can win."

"I… I lost…?" Engar mumbled as the seal began to close around him. "Even with… all that power, I lost to a magic and trap deck…?"

"Engar, all you had were mere cards. I won because I was a stronger duelist. My strength is measured in my heart, not in my cards."

As the seal of orichalcos's light grew brighter around Engar, Von Stupor suddenly noticed Engar snap from his daze and rip the orichalcos stone from around his neck. He proceeded to shove it under his mask and pull fiercely at it. Another white light was seen ebbing from under the mask as Engar ripped at it with all of his might. Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard as Engar himself tumbled out of the pillar of light the seal of orichalcos produced and his mask floated in place. As the light from the seal of orichalcos cleared, the mask fell to the ground, and the soul contained within shot to one of the small squares which lined the walls, ceiling, and floor of the chamber.

As Baron Von Engar stood and looked about dizzily, running his fingers through his revealed silvery hair. He turned to face Baron Von Stupor as his vision returned. Baron Von Stupor's heart sank as he stared at Engar's maskless face. In a flash, everything that Engar had talked about fell into place and made perfect sense. His identity, his history, and his grudge all fell into to place like the pieces to a jigsaw puzzle as the mystery behind him finally lifted, once and for all.

"I remember you…" he said to Engar, barely able to speak. "Engar… you're Dolimus…?"

Dolimus stared back at Von Stupor, panicked. Suddenly, the square that the soul had found a place in from the duel made a fierce cracking sound as it exploded and the entire building began to shake, surging with energy. Von Stupor looked about to examine his surroundings and saw part of the ceiling cracking, ready to fall any minute. When he looked back toward Dolimus, no one was there.

"He escaped…" Von Stupor muttered to himself, beginning to find it difficult to hold his balance. "I have no choice but to do the same."

He ran out of the building in time to see a KaibaCorp helicopter flying low to the ground not far from the helicopter he had arrived in. The helicopter door flew open and Joey held a hand out to Von Stupor.

"Von!!! Hop in!" Joey shouted.

"What of the others from the other helicopter?" Von Stupor called back.

"We got them already, Marron too! Come on!"

Von Stupor grabbed Joey's hand and was hoisted into the helicopter. Reunited with his friends, the helicopter flew away as he watched the entire island sink over his shoulder.

* * *

**ZOMG WTF GTFO!!!** **Didn't see that coming, didja?! Some of you are probably wondering who the hell Dolimus is. Okay, well one of you that I know of is probably wondering who the hell Dolimus is. The only other reader better know or I'm going to bonk her on the head with a trout. :P If you don't know who Dolimus is, then well... that's what you get for not reading all of my stories. ;)** **Sorry! But... there's gonna be a little explaining next chapter so you can understand Engar's grudge a litle bit better. But I'm not going to spoil anything from Dolimus's origin, either. You're just gonna have to find it and read it for yourself. :P**


	22. Chapter 22: Memories

"Chapter 22- Memories"

By: Agent Baron

While the group had escaped Dartz's island after his ultimate defeat at the hands of Yugi, Von Stupor noticed that the King of Games was nowhere to be seen on the helicopter. After inquiring this matter, he learned that Yugi had been left behind, being the only one who did not venture through the portal which connected the top of the structure with the main entrance chamber. As the helicopter left the island, Joey and Téa noticed monsters flying away into the clouds. Three magical knights, clad in solid colors of red, green, and blue respectively, accompanied a Dark Magician Girl during her ascent into the skies above. Looking at where they flew from, they spotted Yugi, who had survived the island sinking and washed ashore nearby land. Picking up Yugi, the helicopter made its way toward its destination: the Hawkinses' mobile home, where Von Stupor, Amy, Yugi, Duke, Téa, Joey, and both Hawkinses departed. Marron, his motor functions still disabled, left with the KaibaCorp helicopter, accompanying Lighty and Mai. It was late at night by the time the gang finally settled in the Hawkinses' RV.

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"Hey Von, what's the matter?" Joey asked him. "You've been pretty quiet lately. Now that everything's all said and done, I'd have expected you to say something about potatoes by now!"

"My business is not finished yet," Von Stupor commented, sitting on a picnic bench outside the mobile home, resting his head on his arms.

"What do you mean? You've got your soul back, Dartz is defeated, Pegasus is restored, you got your old job back…"

"'Tis not that… I still don't have my deck back… and…"

"And…? And what?"

"I finally found Engar. I found out who he really is."

"So you do know Engar?" Yugi asked, coming up behind him. "Who is he?"

"You know him too, both of you. Baron Von Engar is but a pseudonym; his true name is Dolimus."

A flash flew through Yugi and Joey's head at Von Stupor's mere mention of that name.

"Dolimus?!" Yugi cried.

"You mean that creep is still alive?!" exclaimed Joey, mouth agape.

"So he survived the collapse after all…" Yugi contemplated, turning away. "But what does he want with you?"

"He fights for revenge… because of our duel with his father, Serban…" Von Stupor answered sadly.

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"_Yugi, I don't want to fight you. You're a very pleasant kid to be around, and I really enjoyed your company. However, I will not hesitate to defend myself if I have to! You will not be the first human I've killed in defending my well-being, I must warn you. I won't try to convince you anymore, because I know you've already made up your mind. I just want you to think long and hard about what you're going to do, because once we start, I'm not going to hold back."_

_Yami stood there in silence, and stared at Dolimus, his eyes a bit damp. Baron Von Stupor and Serban stood to the side and observed the dead room._

His actions were performed as a means of survival… Is it truly an evil act for him to live? His intentions were only survival…_ Yami debated in his head. _I don't know what to do…

_After a moment, he looked upward at Dolimus, determination in his eyes._

"_Dolimus, you could have easily stolen readily donated blood from the hospital rather than preying on women," he spoke. "Because you had done said action out of love for Serenity, you can no longer justify what you have done to all of your victims! I am sorry Dolimus, but I must end this!"_

"_I… you're right. I respect your decision, Yugi. Fine then, let's finish things."_

"_Dolimus, you have trespassed in the souls of both Téa and myself, and for that, you must now play a game… a Shadow Game, with me as your opponent!"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Dolimus, you're obviously not a coward, and I know you fight with honor. Why not face me at the top of my game?"_

_Dolimus raised an eyebrow, stating, "You're obviously referencing mine and my father's physical advantage over you both. Keep going."_

"_We're both intelligent, we're both cunning. Let's settle this through a Shadow Game, and the name is Duel Monsters!"_

"_Tell me though, in a situation as dire as this, why are you asking me to play a game?"_

"_Because this is a Shadow Game, and the loser of this game… will die."_

"_Wait a moment!" Serban interjected. "How do we know we can trust your friend not to interfere with this Shadow Game, and what makes you think that I will simply sit idly while my son risks his life in a game of ancient power?"_

"_You will know because you and I shall play a game as well, Serban! We shall be playing tag team alongside Yugi and Dolimus!" announced Von Stupor pulling his dueling deck from his cope._

"_Very well, then. I was about to address my acute distaste in watching my son risk his life to defend himself in a foolish show of honor."_

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"Oh, no…" Yugi groaned. "He's actually coming after Baron Von Stupor…"

"When I dueled him, he used 'Seal of Orichalcos', and lost… but instead of his soul being taken, he actually seemed to struggle with his own mask," Von Stupor recalled. "He pulled it off, and seemingly a soul was absorbed from it and sent to the temple in place of his own."

"Was there a soul in that mask, too?"

"I am unsure, but it's the only explanation... But when the soul entered a cell inside the chamber, it was not in long before breaking out, and then that is when the island began to sink."

"Maybe the soul couldn't be contained because Dartz was no longer supporting the temple with his magic or something," Joey commented.

"Or maybe the soul was like Majora was to your mask, and just too unstable to be constrained."

"Dolimus has changed drastically since I had met him," Von Stupor recalled, remembering the brief time he spent in Dolimus's presence. He seemed very calm and collected, highly intelligent. Now he is broken and weak, and hides behind the illusion of his rage."

"None of us were in the right with that battle, but it was something that couldn't be avoided…" Yugi lamented. "We couldn't let him keep doing what he was doing."

"Although now that Von Stupor had inadvertently taken away the last of what had any meaning to him, he blames his newer, crappier life on Von Stupor," Joey said, stroking his chin.

"I don't blame him, honestly… And I really feel sorry for him. Do you think he's going to come for you again, Von Stupor?"

"I do not know… he seemed quite shaken when I defeated him. The odds were very much stacked against me." Von Stupor responded. "But in the end, my faith in myself and the liver of the cards pulled through."

"The liver…? Well anyway, let's just hope everything is okay now."

"I don't think they will be," said Von Stupor. "Not yet."

Just then, Téa stepped out the door of the trailer.

"It's getting late," she said. "Are you guys sleeping outside or what?"

"I forgot how late it is," Yugi said, standing up and looking up at the cloudless, starlit sky. "Let's sleep tonight, and we can talk about this more in the morning."

Téa watched the others step into the trailer while Von Stupor sat on the picnic table. She sat down on the table across from him, but he didn't appear to notice her right away.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him.

"Dolimus," he responded.

"…Dolimus? Why him?"

"I saw Engar's face… that's who he is."

"Dolimus… is alive?"

"Apparently so," Von Stupor answered, laying his arms down on the table and looking at her. "He thirsts for revenge, because of the duel Yami and I had with him."

"Oh… but you said you beat him, right? Didn't you get your deck back?"

"The island sank immediately after I defeated him, and he disappeared somewhere. I never saw where he went."

The two sat in silence for a few moments, Von Stupor deep in thought and Téa unsure of what to say. Suddenly, she spoke.

"Did you know your mask is white now?" she asked, trying to smile.

"Yes, Yugi gave me his postulations about the entity controlling me being the evil sin of this mask developing a consciousness. I suppose defeating that darkness could be considered a form of purifying the mask."

"That mask sure has a lot of mystery surrounding it still. I thought it was just an evil mask, but after the Millennium Eye fused with it…"

"Yes, my mask and the Millennium Eye must be related somehow for this to have happened. But what on earth could it have been?"

"I'm not sure."

"Hey… one question I have… I heard that that entity used a card called 'Shadow of Orichalcos'… and it had the same effect as 'Seal of Orichalcos'?"

"Yes, it did."

"Yugi said that instead of shooting into the sky like normal, a purple spherical object just sat there… was that the entity's soul just sitting there?"

"Possibly because it had nowhere to go."

"And what about the Shadow Game?"

"Well, if you combine their 'effects', so to speak, I suppose it would make sense that the bound soul would be cast into the Shadow Realm."

"If that's the case, then Mai…"

"Yes, and Lighty… they have most likely not woken up yet, and they won't unless the soul is brought back to this realm."

"Is that possible?"

"If souls can be sent to the Shadow Realm, I am sure that those souls could be returned, too… except for the problem of them being stuck in that seal."

Von Stupor sighed and another silence ensued between the two.

"It's really good to have you adventuring with us again, you know," she suddenly said to him, attempting to balance the somber atmosphere. "I mean, even if it's because the world's in danger, we really enjoy your company. You liven things up a lot."

Von Stupor simply chuckled lightly, but said nothing. He appeared to be deep in thought.

"I'm glad you're safe after all of this, too…" she continued. "Even though you had your soul taken. I consider us fortunate that there was a way to return everyone's souls to their bodies."

"Except for Mai and Lighty," Von Stupor corrected her, staring into the sky.

"Please… you probably feel responsible, but don't be so hard on yourself. You didn't do any of that... Your soul was taken, and you were controlled by something else. It's not your fault."

"It is, in a sense. If I hadn't put on this mask in the first place…"

"…You'd have never met us, and you never would have rid the world of the evil in that mask."

"Even if I am not responsible for the evils the entity in my mask committed, I still fed bad people to Majora when he was around. I do not feel prepared to forgive myself for that yet. I feel no different from the people whom I indirectly hurt."

"Von Stupor, please don't think like that! You are a good person!"

"For every person I help, I wind up hurting another somehow. Think about it…"

"No… I won't… If it weren't for you, I never would have fallen—" she caught herself and looked away. She appeared embarrassed.

Von Stupor held out his hand and after hesitating, shakily took her hand in his.

"Don't say that," he said to her.

"W-what are you—" she stuttered, shocked at his gesture. "What about your… fear?"

Von Stupor was visibly distressed from this action. Taking deep breaths, he said to her, "Sometimes… one doesn't always have a second chance to do things… So sometimes, it's best to simply… take the chance while the window of opportunity is open."

She watched him, frozen, unsure of what to do or say.

"Don't say what you were saying earlier…" Von Stupor continued earlier. "Even if I weren't here… you would have. I know that you also like one or both Yugis."

Téa's eyes widened with surprise.

"It's… really quite obvious," Von Stupor said, withdrawing his hand. "If you are having conflicting feelings between myself and Yugi… perhaps you should pursue Yugi instead. I'm quite sure I'll only break your heart in the long run."

"How do you know you'll break my heart?" she asked, fighting tears.

"Ha ha... Breaking your heart is probably inevitable in any case."

"I don't understand… You keep speaking in riddles…"

"I know… I'm sorry. You'll know in time, I promise."

"Why can't you just tell me? Don't you trust me?"

"You must trust me, as well."

Téa watched him as he stood up and moved toward the trailer.

"We should sleep," he said while opening the door. "You are tired as well, I am sure."

Téa quietly followed Von Stupor into the trailer and everyone slept.

* * *

**Well, the massive climactic clash between Stupor and the enigmatic Baron Von Engar has come to an end, but Stupor insists that there is some unfinished business left. What's he thinking is left?**

**There is a chapter theme for the next chapter... just send an email with the subject "your music sucks" and I'll send it to you just before I post the chapter.  
**


	23. Chapter 23: Circle

**Oops! No chapter theme for this chapter. It's next chapter instead. Sorry. :P**

* * *

"Chapter 23- Circle"

By: Agent Baron

The following morning, everyone woke up to a fresh new day. After eating breakfast, the gang realized that they had no means for returning back to Japan since Pegasus had paid for their flight to America in the first place. Fortunately, Mokuba Kaiba, Kaiba's younger brother, approached them via helicopter and offered a ride to Japan as long as Rebecca, Joey, and Yugi accepted formal invitations to Kaiba's latest tournament, the KaibaCorp Grand Championship.

"It's a special Duel Monsters tournament being held by the company in order to boost KaibaCorp's public image since it's been hurt badly from the whole issue with Paradius," Mokuba informed the group. "Only the best of the best are allowed to participate in this tournament, and Seto sent me with these invitations for you guys!"

"I do not get an invitation?" Von Stupor asked, curious. "I should deserve one, too, I hope. I tied with Yugi in the Battle City tournament!"

"Idunno…" Mokuba said, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe he forgot or something. I can ask him if you want."

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

_"Hey, Seto… what about that guy Baron Von Stupor? Shouldn't we invite him, too? He tied with Yugi at the Battle City finals!"_

_"Are you kidding me, Mokuba? There is no way I would allow that slimeball tarnish the prestige of my tournament with his stupid potatoes. There are many duelists out there that are finer than him."_

_"But… didn't you lose to him in the Battle City tournament, too? He beat you for Obelisk."_

_"My deck was designed to take down Yugi and only Yugi! It's no surprise I lost to him, it's not like I was expecting anyone else! I don't accept that as a true loss, as my intent was to battle Yugi the entire time! That clown isn't appearing in my tournament and that's final."_

_"If you say so…"_

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"'Tis fine… I am sure he did forget, but I have important business to tend to that I might not be able to attend anyway. I shall have Industrial Illusions cover my transportation."

"Okay…" Mokuba agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "If you say so."

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

Joey, Yugi, and Rebecca accepted Mokuba's invitation to Kaiba's tournament and remained with the Hawkinses while Baron Von Stupor arranged for transportation with Industrial Illusions.

"It'll be a shame not having you here to give us any moral support," Joey mentioned to Von Stupor. "Was really hoping you could hang out for a while longer."

"It would be wonderful to stay," Von Stupor responded, shaking Joey's hand. "but you know… duty calls."

"Right… being a big old business exec, your time is money. I understand. Well hey, catch us online or something."

"I will certainly try."

"We'll definitely see each other again. I'm sure of it," Yugi chimed in, shaking Von Stupor's hand.

At that time, a car pulled up and a suited man stepped out of it. He approached Von Stupor and gestured toward the car.

"Your ride has arrived, sir," he said.

"Time for me to depart," Von Stupor said. "Best of luck, all of you."

He noticed Téa staring at him, a worried expression on her face. Sighing, he stepped into the car and departed for the airport.

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

Baron Von Stupor's return flight to Japan took about twenty hours. After his arrival, he registered at a nearby hotel to catch up on needed sleep. He traversed to Domino, stopping by many places throughout the day. He passed shops, browsed, and enjoyed some time taking in the atmosphere at the beach.

Later towards the evening, he dropped by Téa's house. He rapped on the door several times and waited patiently until a woman answered the door. She looked rather plain, middle-aged with a modest-colored blouse on. She stared at Von Stupor curiously.

"Greetings! I am Baron Von Stupor," he said cheerfully. "Is this the residence of Téa Gardner?"

"Um… are you from some religious group?" she responded, ready to close the door.

"Pastafarians, but that is no concern of yours. Actually, I am a personal friend of hers. When she arrives back from her stay in America, I would like you to give this to her. This is a dear possession of mine, but I may not need it for a while."

Baron Von Stupor took off his cope and bowed to one knee, presenting the cope in his two hands like a sword. The woman took it with an uncomfortable glance and shut the door.

_Now that that is done…_ Baron Von Stupor thought to himself. _'Tis time._

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

Baron Von Stupor trekked across Domino City and approached the ruins of a fallen mansion. It stretched across a field that has been conquered effortlessly by foliage. One could discern where the walls lay by the protrusions from the ground that formed the framework for the bottom floor.

He waded through the wreckage and discovered a set of stairs. The entrance to the house's lower level appeared to have been cleared out for descent. Moving down the stairs, he entered what appeared to be the house's cellar. At the bottom of the stairs, he was in a hallway with stone walls. At the bottom of the stairs was a perpendicular turning point; an open door on the right and a closed door on the left.

Venturing through the door to the right, he found Dolimus immediately next to the wall, asleep on a bed made of old cushions. He sat down on the floor nearby and waited. For about twenty minutes he sat, deep in thought before he noticed movement coming from Dolimus. He sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. Looking around, he finally noticed Baron Von Stupor and jerked himself over towards the wall.

"Y-you… How did you find me…?" he asked, shocked.

"Where else would you be?" Von Stupor asked in reply, not looking at him.

"What do you want?"

"I came by to visit you."

Dolimus crawled forth and sat on his bed, appearing suspicious of Von Stupor. "Why?"

"Our business is not finished yet."

"...Are you still after that damn deck? Is that why you came here?"

Dolimus appeared insulted and began to anger.

"No, not at all… the deck isn't as much a priority to me right now." Von Stupor replied, glancing in his direction.

"I don't understand. What, are you coming over here to lecture me again?"

"Of course not… I've come here to help you."

Dolimus stood up and walked towards his door.

"Just shut up and get out of my life. I don't need your pity."

"Does your hate and anger still consume you?" Von Stupor asked him, also standing up.

"No, it doesn't… not anymore. I've given up on everything."

"You still feel it?"

"Yes, I do… I still hate you. Don't get me started, Baron Von Stupor. I almost lost my soul… I don't want my emotions to get the best of me and destroy me any further. My life has been ruined, my spirit's been broken… I think you've done enough damage to me."

"Do you not understand, Dolimus? You are destroying yourself, and it all started when you first let your anger and hatred consume you. When you became Baron Von Engar, you became someone else… you had lost sight of yourself."

"Stupor… you killed my _father._"

"This isn't about your father anymore, is it? At first it was, but now it's just become personal. If you were truly avenging your father, you wouldn't have been driven by anger and hatred, but rather than by your own desire for retribution! You would want me to repent for what I did, not suffer for it! You embraced your anger and hatred, and then you embraced the darkness of the orichalcos. Then the darkness of the orichalcos fed both. Dolimus, deep down inside, you knew what had to be done during the battle. You could have fed off of the blood of animals, or hospital blood well before Serenity, but you started after, and you even admitted you were in the wrong. Rather than face this outcome born of your own decisions, you blamed it all on someone else, and you chose me. There you lost your identity and became Baron Von Engar."

Dolimus remained silent and stared at Von Stupor for a moment. Tears began to well in his eyes and he turned away. Von Stupor watched him as he walked back to the corner of the room and reached into a small box. Pulling out something small, he walked back to Baron Von Stupor and handed the object to him, wrapped in a small white cloth.

Baron Von Stupor unwrapped the object and saw his original deck intact, in perfect condition. Baron Von Stupor looked at the deck with astonishment and inserted it into his duel disk.

"Even if I find who I am again…" Dolimus said, looking at Von Stupor with teary eyes. "Things still wouldn't be any better for me. I'll still want to avenge my father, since my father will also never come back."

"Even still you wish to settle the score?"

"Yes. And accepting that it won't happen will leave me in the miserable wreck that I am in right now anyway, so I don't understand how you could possibly help me..."

"Why don't we settle this, then? Honorably… with finality?"

"…What?"

"One of two things should happen... either you will finally get the retribution you desire for your father's death… or I will put you out of your long misery, and you won't have to suffer anymore."

"…You want to finish things? Risk yourself, still?"

"I said I had come here to help you."

"But you didn't even bring a deck with you. I just gave you yours back."

Baron Von Stupor glanced at his deck and drew the top card from it, examining its picture and ridges. "Call it a hunch, but I had a feeling you still had my deck."

"You're sure about this?"

"Take your deck… we'll have one final duel. A Shadow Game, where the loser's soul is banished to the Shadow Realm. Baron Von Stupor versus Dolimus, not Baron Von Engar."

"I told you I didn't want to lose myself to my anger and hate again," Dolimus commented, grabbing his deck and dusting it off. "…But you're here challenging me further and risking your own life? I don't understand."

"You won't lose yourself again. Trust me."

Both duelists traveled upward to the ground floor of the mansion ruins and stood on either end, ready to duel.

* * *

**Again, anyone who wants that chapter theme, follow my instructions from the prior chapter. Let's do this!**


	24. Chapter 24: Identity

"Chapter 24: Identity"

By: Agent Baron

Baron Von Stupor has finally uncovered the full truth behind Baron Von Engar and revealed him to be Dolimus, a former half-blood vampire who had harbored a grudge ever since an ill-fated duel between himself and Baron Von Stupor that ultimately resulted in his father's death. Even though he was seemingly soundly defeated, Baron Von Stupor insists that they still have unfinished business to attend to, and challenges him to one final duel.

"I want you to go first," Von Stupor said to Dolimus as the two finished shuffling their decks and drew their hands. A purple fog emitted from underneath Baron Von Stupor's mask and swallowed the entire arena in its abyss of black haze. Soon enough, the only visible objects were the duelists themselves and the cards they would soon lay.

"Very well…" he said solemnly. "I'll play Pot of Greed to draw two more cards… I'll set two M/T and one monster. I end my turn."

"I'll set one monster and one M/T… that ends my turn."

Dolimus drew and passed his turn to Baron Von Stupor, who merely set a second monster prior to ending his turn.

"I'll flip summon the Pyramid Turtle and use it to attack your set monster!" Dolimus declared.

A large turtle emerged from the ground bearing the headdress of a pharaoh. On its back it had a mighty pyramid for a shell. Charging forward, it trampled Baron Von Stupor's set Zombyra the Dark.

_He's using zombies again… Perfect…_ Von Stupor thought to himself as he drew his next card. "I'll set one M/T and end my turn."

"I'll summon the Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower!" Dolimus announced after drawing a card. "This card cannot be attacked as long as I have another zombie-type monster on the field. In addition to this, whenever any zombie-type monster is special summoned, you have to discard the top two cards in your deck!"

In front of Dolimus rose a large tower of bone stacked upon bone. Souls swarmed about it as it loomed menacingly over Von Stupor.

"Now I'll attack your face-down monster with the Pyramid Turtle!" announced Dolimus as the Pyramid Turtle flew into a rampage. Before it reached Baron Von Stupor, however, a squirmy pink creature wriggled into the turtle's mouth and it made agonizing sounds.

"You've attacked my Kiseitai while it was in face-down defense position," Von Stupor informed him. "Now it becomes equipped to your monster and during each of your Standby Phases, I gain half of the monster's attack points in the form of Life Points!"

"Damn… I end my turn…"

"I'll draw and end my turn."

"I draw… I shift my Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower to defense mode and sacrifice my Pyramid Turtle to tribute summon Ryu Kokki! Next I'll play the magic card 'Book of Life' to bring one zombie-type monster in my graveyard back to life as well as remove one monster in your graveyard from play! I'll choose your Zombyra the Dark and I'll revive the Pyramid Turtle!"

Dolimus's Pyramid Turtle thrashed about and the noodly pink creature's tail, shaped like a hand, reached out of the turtle's mouth and presented a shower of light that increased Von Stupor's Life Points by 700. Soon after this, the turtle disappeared and was replaced by a hunchbacked humanoid creature comprised almost entirely of skulls while next to it, the turtle appeared once more.

"Now, I'll place my bone tower in defense mode and attack your life points directly! Ryu Kokki, attack!" Dolimus commanded. "And don't forget my bone tower's special effect that was activated when I revived my Pyramid Turtle!"

The bone tower's souls bean to swarm closer to it, forming a protective barrier while the Ryu Kokki, laughing, hopped over to Von Stupor and delivered a fierce punch in his gut. The Pyramid Turtle rose out of a hole in the ground and swung its head, knocking Von Stupor off of his feet and to the side and sending his Life Points to 4900.

"I'm not finished yet…" he groaned, rising to his feet. "I'll play 'Black Illusion Ritual'… this allows me to sacrifice a monster from my hand, namely my Labyrinth Wall, to ritual summon Relinquished!"

Baron Von Stupor's Relinquished burst from its ritual pot and he felt a sense of glee from using his favorite monster again.

"I will absorb your Ryu Kokki, and then attack your Pyramid Turtle!" Von Stupor announced.

His Relinquished forcefully inhaled Ryu Kokki into its torso cavity and closed its shoulder flaps over itself, Ryu Kokki's face protruding from one of the flaps. It then rose into the air and produced a large Absorption Blast Attack that devastated the Pyramid Turtle and reduced Dolimus's Life Points to 7000.

"Now my turtle's special effect activates! Because it was sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, I may choose a zombie card from my deck that has a defense of 2000 or less and immediate special summon it in face-up attack position! The card I choose is the Spirit Reaper! This monster also carries a special effect; it can't be destroyed by battle, and whenever it inflicts direct damage to your Life Points, you have to randomly discard one card from your hand!"

In front of Dolimus appeared a grim reaper wearing a purple cloak. It hovered in the air with no visible legs, holding its scythe and leering at Von Stupor.

"I was ready for your Relinquished from the beginning, Von Stupor. I'll now activate my 'Dust Tornado' trap card. This allows me to destroy one M/T card on the field and set my own! I'll choose to destroy my equipped Ryu Kokki, leaving your Relinquished vulnerable to attack!"

A massive tornado rushed from Dolimus's card and sucked in Relinquished, ripping the equipped Ryu Kokki from inside it and destroying it.

"Now," Dolimus continued. "I'll order my Pyramid Turtle to attack your Relinquished, inflicting the full force of its attack on your Life Points as battle damage!"

"Not before I activate 'Mirror Force'! This negates your attack and destroys all face-up attack position monsters on your side of the field instead!"

The turtle stamped its foot down towards the weakened Relinquished, but its blow was stopped short by a force field that blew it back, forcing it to land on the Spirit Reaper. Both were destroyed.

"Now I'll set one M/T and absorb your Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower," Von Stupor announced. "I'll set one monster and end my turn."

Von Stupor's Relinquished inhaled hard and every bone of the bone tower was sucked straight into its torso cavity. Closing its flaps, a corner of the tower protruded from it prior to it lowering itself in defense.

Dolimus drew and ended his turn, and control shifted once more to Von Stupor.

"You're wide open… what's happening?" Von Stupor asked him.

Dolimus simply sighed and looked off to the side.

"Stop that. Have faith in yourself for once. You are not a worthless duelist, I know this."

"What would you care?"

"If I do not, then who will?"

"Tch… Just take your turn…"

"Very well… I'll set one M/T. Next, I'll sacrifice my Relinquished and set monster to tribute summon the Cosmo Queen! I order her to attack your Life Points directly!"

The Cosmo Queen emerged through a portal from the stars and slammed Dolimus to the ground hard with a gravitational crush. His Life Points sank down to 4100.

Dolimus hesitantly drew his next card. Seeing it, his eyes flashed a sign of determination.

"I'll set one M/T, then play the magic card 'Call of the Mummy'!" he announced firmly. "This is a continuous magic card that allows me to special summon any one zombie monster from my hand as long as I have no zombie cards on the field! I'll use this to special summon my Double Coston, and then I'll sacrifice it to special summon Despair from the Dark!"

As the two will-o-wisps appeared and faded from Dolimus's field, in their place appeared a mighty dark being shaped like a devil with curled horns. Its shadow stretched toward Von Stupor and its open hole of a mouth revealed two rows of dangerous spiked teeth as it smiled.

"I'll… draw one card and end my turn," Von Stupor declared, gawking at the being.

"Now I'll summon Master Kyonshee, and activate my trap card on the Cosmo Queen, 'Compulsory Evacuation Device'! This returns an opponent's face-up monster back to their hand!"

"I shall also activate a trap card, 'Skull Lair'! By removing any number of monsters in my graveyard from play, I can destroy any opponent's monster of the same level! I'll remove eight monsters to destroy your Despair from the Dark!"

A large building rose before Von Stupor, providing a gate for monsters to travel through should they wish to attack him. Before any of the monsters could react, I mighty surge of lighting routed its way through Despair from the Dark's body and destroyed it.

As a zombie bearing Chinese fighter's clothing and a talisman on its forehead appeared before Dolimus, Von Stupor's Cosmo Queen was thrust in the air by the ground beneath her, attached to a strong spring and released. The Cosmo Queen, holding her robe down to prevent further embarrassment, flew into Von Stupor's hand.

"Your monsters yearn to serve you. Do not let them down," Von Stupor said to him. "Let your pride as a duelist show through your monsters!"

"Master Kyonshee, attack Von Stupor's Life Points directly!"

The fighter leapt to Von Stupor and delivered a flurry of blows to Von Stupor's entire torso region, doubling him over and slamming his Life Points to 3150.

"Remember that your monsters are not just fighting for you…" Von Stupor said in between breaths of air upon standing up. "Remember that you are fighting with them as well… fighting for them, and for yourself. I'll set one trap card, and end my turn."

"Why do you keep saying these things?! Why don't you just shut up?!"

"They'll all make sense by the end of this duel, trust me. I'll prove everything to you, the only way I know how."

"Bah… I'll play 'Reload', so that I may shuffle my hand into my deck and draw the same number of cards. Next I'll summon another Pyramid Turtle, and I'll order my two monsters to attack you at once!"

Their attack was held back by three priestesses defending Von Stupor.

"I've activated 'Waboku'… my battle damage is zero for this turn." Von Stupor said, drawing. "Next, because you have two more monsters than I do on the field, I'll special summon The Fiend Megacyber… then, I'll sacrifice him to tribute summon the Great Maju Garzett! Because of Maju Garzett's effect, his attack and defense are equal to that of the monster used to summon him, bringing his attack total to 4400! Maju Garzett, attack the Pyramid Turtle!"

The mighty beast Maju Garzett appeared in Megacyber's place and landed a punch straight into the shell of the pyramid turtle. The blow was met with such force that the turtle splattered and Dolimus's Life Points dropped sharply to 1100.

"As per my turtle's effect, I may immediately special summon the Regenerating Mummy in attack position!" Dolimus called, though his voice sounded a bit shaky. When he drew, he again regained his determination. "I'll play 'Creature Swap'! Since Maju Garzett is the only monster on your side of the field, you have no choice but to choose him! Meanwhile, I will give you my Master Kyonshee!"

"Oh, boy…" said Von Stupor, his hand shaking.

"I'll order the Great Maju Garzett to attack your Master Kyonshee!"

Obediently, the monster grabbed Kyonshee and threw him as hard as he could. The monster could be seen flailing for a long while until it finally fell to the ground with a thud many yards away. Von Stupor's Life Points dwindled to 500.

"You've not bested me just yet," said Von Stupor, drawing his next card. "I'll summon Senju of the Thousand Hands, which activates his special effect! I'll bring one ritual monster from my deck to my hand. Next, I'll play 'Black Illusion Ritual', and sacrifice my Senju to ritual summon Relinquished!"

As Relinquished appeared on the field, a massive torrent of water soared through the arena, washing Von Stupor's monster away, along with Dolimus's Great Maju Garzett and Regenerating Mummy.

"I activated my trap card, 'Torrential Tribute'!" Dolimus announced. "This destroys all monsters on the field when one is summoned."

"Damn…" Von Stupor cursed, clenching his fist.

"Next I'll special summon the Vampire Lady as per my 'Call of the Mummy' card and attack your Life Points directly!"

A beautiful green-skinned woman in a long, form-fitting violet dress appeared on the field. She had pointed ears and wore long, slender violet gloves on her hands and up her arms. Suddenly, her face turned sinister as she lunged at Baron Von Stupor at a shocking speed, but was deflected by a last-minute defense barrier executed by Baron Von Stupor.

"I activated my 'Negate Attack'," Baron Von Stupor announced, breathing heavily by the sudden shock. "Now I'll summon the Dark Blade!"

Von Stupor's black knight stepped forward and challenged the Vampire Lady.

"Dark Blade, attack the Vampire Lady, now!" Von Stupor ordered, and the knight obediently chopped her head off with its twin swords in a cross slash. Dolimus's Life Points dwindled to 850.

"Hey… we're approaching the end of our duel, aren't we?" Dolimus suddenly asked.

"Yes, it would seem so…" Von Stupor replied, standing straight, facing him. "It should not be too long before a victor is made."

"I… I don't feel like… I've learned anything at all from this."

"You will. Just believe in your deck… and in yourself. Don't let your courage waver."

Dolimus looked uncomfortably toward the ground for a few moments and then drew a card. "I'll now special summon the Vampire Lord via 'Call of the Mummy' and I'll use it to attack the Dark Blade…"

A pale-skinned man rose from the ground, enveloped in a dark blue robe. His green hair was easily visible, and covered almost an entire half of his face. Throwing back his robe, he lunged at the black knight with devastating speed and seemed to scratch straight through its armor and fell it in one swipe. Von Stupor's Life Points fell to a dangerously low 300.

"I'll draw… and activate my 'Skull Lair' trap on Vampire Lord," Von Stupor said as his trap electrocuted the vampire until it exploded. "That ends my turn…"

"I too, will draw and end my turn."

"You're not believing in your deck enough, even still. I set one monster and end my turn."

"What do you mean? I believe in it… I'll set one M/T and end my turn."

"I said you're not believing in it _enough_. I draw and end my turn."

"What are you talking about? How do you know that?"

"You would be fighting much harder if you were. You must place your full and undying faith in your monsters and believe that no matter what, the heart of the cards will guide you in the right direction. That is the path of the duelist!"

"Heart of the…? In the right… direction?" Suddenly, Dolimus received an epiphany and his eyes grew wide.

"Do you understand now? Do you understand what I have been telling you?"

"I… I think so… I'll summon the Regenerating Mummy, and I order it to attack your set monster!"

Dolimus's mummy rose from the ground, bandages hanging from its rotting body and it rushed Von Stupor's set monster. A Man-Eater Bug burst from it and slashed the mummy to pieces. Thrusting its claws in the air triumphantly, the mummy then bit its leg and crippled it while the other parts tore it to pieces as well. Both were destroyed.

"Man-Eater Bug destroys a monster as soon as it's flipped face-up!" Von Stupor explained. "Next I'll set one M/T and end my turn."

"I'll draw… and because of 'Call of the Mummy', I'll special summon another Ryu Kokki!"

"Before you even try to attack, I'll activate the trap card, 'Gravity Bind'!"

As Ryu Kokki materialized, it stood firmly, yet appeared to have difficulty.

"And now I'll play 'Monster Reborn', to bring my Relinquished back to life!" Von Stupor declared. "Next, I'll absorb your Ryu Kokki!"

As Von Stupor's monster absorbed the monster, it was suddenly thrust into the air by another of Dolimus 'Compulsory Evacuation Device' cards.

"This is it for you, Von Stupor! For 'Call of the Mummy', I'll special summon my Vampire Lord!" Dolimus declared. "Next, I'll remove it from the game in order to summon the mighty creature Vampire Genesis to the field!"

The Vampire Lord suddenly looked stressed and clutched its forehead. Crumpling to the ground, it slowly transformed into a mighty beast of gigantic proportions. The violet behemoth held back its hulking arms and roared, its many fine-tipped teeth glistening in the moonlight.

"Go, Vampire Genesis! Attack..." He stared at Von Stupor expectingly. Von Stupor simply folded his hand together and discarded it, looking at Dolimus with his hands at his sides.

Dolimus's monster soared over to Von Stupor's side of the field and delivered a hard blow straight to Von Stupor's chest, knocking him back several feet before he landed on his back. His Life Points then sank to zero.

"_Von Stupor!_" Dolimus cried, running over to him.

"What's going on?!" he cried through tears, propping Von Stupor up in his arms. "What happened to you?! I thought you said that as long as you believe in your monsters and the heart of the cards, you can defeat any enemy?!"

Von Stupor merely laid there and gazed upward.

"You can…" he said softly. "But there are two things you are missing… For one thing, just because you _can_, it does not mean you always _will_. Also… this time, you weren't my enemy."

Dolimus stared at him, unsure of what to say.

"Dolimus… do you feel any happier now? Do you feel better that you have avenged your father's death?" Von Stupor asked.

Dolimus thought to himself for a moment, then looked down to Von Stupor and saw his eyes watching him through the holes in the mask. Tears began to stream from his eyes.

"…No… I don't… I… I don't feel better at all! I feel worse than ever!"

"Then congratulations… I've finally helped you find out who you are… You have found yourself again. And now, your anger and hate should never control you again."

Dolimus could only stare toward the ground, unable to look at Von Stupor in the eyes as the fog continued to dissipate around them. Just then, Von Stupor's mask began to glow brightly.

"Von Stupor… your mask…!" Dolimus said aloud.

"Take my mask… and give it to Yugi," Von Stupor instructed him. "He will know what to do with it. I trust you with it… be careful it does not fall into the wrong hands."

Just then, Von Stupor convulsed briefly in Dolimus's arms before going completely limp as the fog cleared entirely. Von Stupor's mask dissipated with the fog and the Millennium Eye fell to the ground with a light thud.


	25. Chapter 25: Excogitation

"Chapter 25- Excogitation"

By: Agent Baron

Yugi and friends have all arrived back in Domino after the successful completion of the KaibaCorp Grand Championship, regardless of the hacking attempt on the company by Zigfried von Schroeder, of Schroeder Corporation. Unaware of Baron Von Stupor's recent activity, Yugi returns home, ready to finally relax and take a break from fighting the evils of the world.

Waking up to a brand new day, he is surprised to find Téa visiting early in the morning. He runs back upstairs and promptly performs his morning ritual and returns to meet Téa.

"Hi, Téa, why are you here so early?" he asked.

Téa bore a grim complexion as Yugi noticed that she was holding Baron Von Stupor's cope.

"Why… do you have Baron Von Stupor's coat?" he asked her.

"I think the real question is 'why did he leave his coat at my house saying he might not need it for a while'?" she responded.

"He said that? Why would he say that?"

"Yugi… what's the one piece of unfinished business he would have around here?"

"…Potatoes?"

"_Yugi!_ Try to be serious! What's the one thing around Domino that Baron Von Stupor would still need to take care of???"

"I was trying not to say it's Dolimus…"

"Do you think something might have happened to him?"

"I doubt it, Téa… I mean, he's pretty proficient in using his mask for different things…"

Téa looked down at the cope, depression in her eyes.

"I think we should look for him…" she said in a low tone.

"Okay. I'll help you look for him," Yugi responded, trying to smile at her.

"_Yugi,_" Yami spoke from within his mind. "_That coat gives me a bad feeling about Baron Von Stupor._"

"_I know, me too,_" Yugi responded. "_I was just hoping he wouldn't do anything dangerous… where do you think we should go to look for him?_"

"_That's simple. We should look where he would most likely be, and that place would be wherever Dolimus is._"

"_Right. Good idea._"

"The pharaoh gave me an idea for where Von Stupor might be," Yugi said to Téa, putting on his jacket. "Come on, let's go try to find him. The first place we should try is Dolimus's old house."

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

Approaching Dolimus's old house, awful memories of the aftermath that ensued after that duel came flooding back into Yugi's head. Explosions, the house collapsing, and Dolimus's shouts along with blasts from Von Stupor's mask rung in his head so suddenly he almost thought they were real all over again.

"Yugi, are you okay? You look frightened," Téa asked him.

"Just bad memories, that's all…" Yugi answered, moving toward the wreckage and looking around. "They all hit me at once, and it kind of surprised me."

The two looked around when Téa pointed out a stairwell leading underground. Yugi went to investigate it and saw that it had been cleared out for access. The two went downstairs and found an open door on the right and left. Walking into the right room, they were suddenly shocked to see Dolimus sitting on the floor, facing away from them. Nearly shouting from surprise, they slowly began to back out of the chamber when Dolimus suddenly spoke.

"I thought you would eventually come looking for Baron Von Stupor," he said to them.

"D-Dolimus…? What's going on?" Yugi asked, petrified.

"Baron Von Stupor ruined my life… but he saved my soul."

"He what..?"

"I said he saved my soul," Dolimus repeated, standing and turning to face them. "He did it in the most despicable way possible… He sacrificed his own."

Yugi and Téa's heart sank.

"_No…!!_" Téa spurted and backed away, ready to break down at any instant.

"Wh-what happened?!" Yugi sputtered, his surprise quickly turning to anger. His Millennium Puzzle glowed as he shifted into Yami. Yami rushed forward and grabbed Dolimus by his shirt and yanked him closer. "_Tell me what happened!_"

"It was a Shadow Game," Dolimus answered, not bothering to fight back. "I still wanted to avenge my father, so in an effort to finish things once and for all, he offered one of two things: either vengeance for my father or to put me out of my misery."

Yami let Dolimus go and backed up, completely confused. Dolimus continued to speak.

"I don't know why he took so much pity on me either, Yugi. But as self-righteous as I thought him to be, every word that came out of that man's mouth was the absolute truth. He's a saint… and I martyred him."

"How… how could you, Dolimus…?"

"Because of that selfless deed, he taught me how wrong I was about so many things… from when I first became Baron Von Engar onward, he showed me through our last couple of duels together what it truly means to be strong. I hate him still, Yugi. But I don't hate him anymore because of what he did to my father… I hate him because he healed me and left me before I even had a chance to thank him. I don't feel anger or raw hatred anymore… only guilt. Horrid, merciless guilt."

"How would you have felt about him if he had won?"

"Actually… when I piece together the things he said before and during the duel, it's almost like... he knew he was going to lose before he even challenged me."

"Why… would he challenge you to a Shadow Game he knew he would lose? And the Shadow Realm is supposed to be a place of eternal suffering… that doesn't sound like he would have put you out of your misery. None of this makes any sense," Téa added, visibly fighting her tears. Suddenly, her mind flashed as she remembered something startling.

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

_"Von Stupor, please don't think like that! You are a good person!"_

_"For every person I help, I wind up hurting another somehow. Think about it…"_

_"No… I won't… If it weren't you, I never would have—" she caught herself and looked away. She appeared embarrassed._

_Von Stupor held out his hand and after hesitating, shakily took her hand in his._

_"Don't say that," he said to her._

_"W-what are you—" she stuttered, shocked at his gesture. "What about your… fear?"_

_Von Stupor was visibly distressed from this action. Taking deep breaths, he said to her, "Sometimes… one doesn't always have a second chance to do things… So sometimes, it's best to simply… take the chance while the window of opportunity is open."_

_She watched him, frozen, unsure of what to do or say._

_"Don't say what you were saying earlier…" Von Stupor continued earlier. "Even if I weren't here… you would have. I know that you also like one or both Yugis."_

_Téa's eyes widened with surprise._

_"It's… really quite obvious," Von Stupor said, withdrawing his hand. "If you are having conflicting feelings between myself and Yugi… perhaps you should pursue Yugi instead. I'm quite sure I'll only break your heart in the long run."_

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"I have no idea," Dolimus answered. "He kept talking about the heart of the cards guiding him, like he had some kind of grand plan going that stretches far past even helping me."

"He couldn't be… executing some plan in the Shadow Realm, could he…?" Yami postulated, stroking his chin.

Suddenly, Téa's memory sparked. "Oh, no… he's not going to try it… is he?!"

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

_"Hey… one question I have… I heard that that entity used a card called 'Shadow of Orichalcos'… and it had the same effect as 'Seal of Orichalcos'?"_

_"Yes, it did."_

_"Yugi said that instead of shooting into the sky like normal, a purple spherical object just sat there… was that the entity's soul just sitting there?"_

_"Possibly because it had nowhere to go."_

_"And what about the Shadow Game?"_

_"Well, if you combine their 'effects', so to speak, I suppose it would make sense that the bound soul would be cast into the Shadow Realm."_

_"If that's the case, then Mai…"_

_"Yes, and Lighty… they have most likely not woken up yet, and they won't unless the soul is brought back to this realm."_

_"Is that possible?"_

_"If souls can be sent to the Shadow Realm, I am sure that those souls could be returned, too… except for the problem of them being stuck in that seal."_

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"Oh, no!" Yami cried aloud. "How could he do something so foolish?!"

"Oh…" Dolimus spoke, reaching into a small box nearby. "Here… he wanted me to give you this…"

He placed the Millennium Eye in Yugi's hand and he gasped.

"Dolimus…! How did you get this…?" Yami asked him, surprised.

"Von Stupor, originally asked me to give the mask to you, but it disappeared with his soul, but the eye-thing there was left behind. I figured that if I couldn't give you the mask, I'd at least give you that. You might know more about that mask than I do anyway."

"I don't even know why this fused with Majora's Mask in the first place… But now I wonder what exactly happened to the mask. Dolimus, where is Von Stupor's body?"

"Look in the other room."

The group entered the other room and found Baron Von Stupor lying on another bed of cushions Dolimus had made. He had a cloth pulled over his face.

"I know how much he wore that mask," Dolimus commented. "I put that cloth over him to preserve his real face's mystery. If he comes back, I'm sure he'd want to show his face when he's ready."

"Thank you," Yami said to him, sighing. "I don't know what he was thinking… but based on what I know from the Shadow Realm, that is not a friendly place to be and one's soul is very fragile. The more time he spends there without finding a way back, the more he decreases his chances of ever returning…"

"Von Stupor…" Téa cried, and held onto Yugi for support.

"Hey, Yugi," Dolimus said to him. Yami turned to face him. "I don't ever expect you to forgive me for the things I've done, for the lives I've ruined. But I've been doing a lot of thinking since before you got here and I wonder if you could find it in you to give me a chance to repent for what I've done."

"What are you talking about?"

"Duel me, defeat me," Dolimus said, extracting his deck. "Send my soul to the Shadow Realm. Let me help Stupor come home safe."

"Dolimus…"

"Look, I'm not doing this to butter you up. I'm doing this because I need to repent for all the sins I've committed, and the first step is by throwing myself into immediate danger to save the man who deserves to live his life more than I do. I'm not doing this for me this time, and I'm finally placing all of my faith in my deck. No matter what, I'm going to trust in the heart of the cards, and hope it guides me to the right place."

Yami hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"I can see it in your eyes," he said to Dolimus. "I understand. Once we start this, there will be no turning back. Do you understand this?"

Dolimus nodded.

"Very well, then. This will be a Shadow Game. The loser will have their soul banished to the Shadow Realm!"

"I accept those conditions... let's duel."

* * *

**Dolimus executes a plan to follow Von Stupor's lead to the Shadow Realm! There's only one way this duel will end and both duelists know it... yet they will fight their hardest and let the heart of the cards make the ultimate call! Email me with the subject "he kicks like a donkey" and I'll give you the theme for the next chapter! See you then!**


	26. Chapter 26: Redemption

"Chapter 26- Redemption"

By: Agent Baron

Having found Dolimus, Yugi and Téa were able to discern the possible truth behind Baron Von Stupor's recent actions. Unfortunately, this truth involves an unfortunate fate for Von Stupor, whose mind is now thrust deep into the Shadow Realm. Yugi maintains hope that Von Stupor may return yet from the Shadow Realm, however slim the chances may be. In an act of selflessness, Dolimus has challenged Yugi to a duel he knows he will not win, trusting his newfound belief in the guidance of the heart of the cards. Following the path of the true duelist, he will give Yugi the hardest fight he can give, knowing full well the consequences of his actions in the hopes that he can find Baron Von Stupor in the Shadow Realm and aid him back to the land of the living.

"I'll go first," Dolimus declared, a fog emitting from the eye on Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. As the field became swallowed in its dark haze, all scenery disappeared as only the two duelists and Téa, their spectator, remained. "First I'll play my magic card, 'Call of the Mummy'! This card allows me to special summon any one zombie card from my hand as long as I have zero zombie monsters on the field during my Main Phase! Next, as per my 'Call of the Mummy', I'll special summon Master Kyonshee, and then I'll summon the Regenerating Mummy!"

On the field appeared Kyonshee, talisman intact as well as another one of Dolimus's mummies.

"I'll set one M/T and play the magic card 'Different Dimension Capsule'!" Yami announced. "This card allows me to remove from play any one card from my deck. If, after two turns have passed, my capsule is still in play, it goes to the graveyard and I get whatever card I picked. Next, I'll summon my monster, the Copycat! This monster copies the attack and defense of any monster on the field, and I choose your Regenerating Mummy! Copycat, attack Master Kyonshee!"

Yami's Copycat monster, now bearing the image of the Regenerating Mummy, attacked Kyonshee. Kyonshee made a quick jab to Copycat's chest, which made its decrepit arm fall off while Copycat swung its other arm, bludgeoning Kyonshee in the head and knocking him down and felling him.

"I'll send my Regenerating Mummy to the graveyard to tribute summon Ryu Kokki! Ryu Kokki, attack the Copycat!" Dolimus ordered.

Ryu Kokki appeared in the place of Dolimus's mummy and charged the mummy copycat. The skeletal warrior bit off the copycat's head and spat it back out, horrified by its taste. Stomping the head, it returned to its position on Dolimus's field and Yami's Life Points sank to 7400.

"Very good," Yami said to him. "You certainly seem to have gotten stronger. I'll set one M/T and one monster, ending my turn."

"I'll summon the Pyramid Turtle and attack your face-down monster!"

As the bizarre turtle emerged onto the field, it dashed toward the set monster on Yami's field. It stomped hard on the Marshmallon that popped out of it and was thrown back by the creature springing back to its original shape, much to the turtle's surprise. The ugly marshmallow bobbled around and winked at the Pyramid Turtle with its upside-down face and licked the turtle's foot while it was trapped on its back.

"My Marshmallon cannot be destroyed by battle, and it inflicts 1000 points of damage to anyone who attacks it while it is in face-down defense position," Yami explained. "You'll have a difficult time breaking through this defense."

"That takes me down to 6950…" Dolimus mumbled to himself as he ended his turn.

"Now, because two turns have passed, my 'Different Dimension Capsule' returns to me the card that it removed from play!" Yami announced, a capsule appearing in front of him. It opened and a beam of light shot into his hand. "I'll set one M/T and end my turn."

"I'll set one M/T and end my turn as well," Dolimus stated.

After thinking for a moment, Yami stated, "I shall play 'Pot of Greed' in order to draw two new cards, and next I'll tribute my Marshmallon to tribute summon my Summoned Skull! With that, I'll end my turn without attacking."

"You're probably worried about my trap. Not attacking wouldn't have helped you anyway, because I'll activate it anyway! 'Compulsory Evacuation Device'! Summoned Skull is returned to your hand!""

"I'll chain onto it my quick-play magic card, 'Scapegoat'! Four Sheep Tokens emerge to protect me!" Yami countered.

"Fine then, my monsters will attack two of your Sheep Tokens!"

The Pyramid Turtle approached one sheep and ate it while Ryu Kokki grabbed another and slammed it hard to the ground.

"I'll now summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer," Yami announced, a Chinese monk appearing before him wearing an oni mask that covered part of his face. "…and I'll use it to attack the Pyramid Turtle!"

Kycoo held his beaded necklace toward the turtle and it glowed brightly. The turtle then exploded via a sharp blue beam of light directed from the necklace.

"Kycoo also has an effect where whenever it inflicts damage to your Life Points, it can remove up to two monsters in your graveyard from play!" Yami continued. "I'll choose your Regenerating Mummy and Pyramid Turtle!"

"Before you do that, my Pyramid Turtle's effect activates! Now I can immediately special summon any zombie monster from my deck that has a defense of 2000 or less! I'll bring forth the Vampire Lord! Next I'll play 'Reload' to shuffle my hand into my deck and draw the same number of new cards… then I'll set one monster and order my two monsters to attack your last two Sheep Tokens!"

Dolimus's Vampire Lord appeared before him, standing beside the ever smiling Ryu Kokki. Together, the two monsters cut and stomped the last of Yami's defending sheep.

_His ability to keep monsters on the field at all times is surprising,_ Yami thought to himself. "I'll set one monster and end my turn."

"Now I'll summon another Pyramid Turtle and use Ryu Kokki to attack Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer!"

"Not so fast," Yami called to him. "You've forgotten about my trap card, 'Magical Cylinder'!"

"Oh, no!"

"My trap protects me from your attack and instead sends it right back at your Life Points!"

Ryu Kokki's dashing punch caused him to lunge straight into a multicolored decorative cylinder. Next to Dolimus was another cylinder from which the monster burst and punched him instead. Dolimus was slammed aside and fell to the ground. When he rose back to his feet, his Life Points were down to 4550.

"I'll order my Vampire Lord to attack your Kycoo now… and Pyramid Turtle to attack Sangan," Dolimus said, taking heavy breaths.

His Vampire Lord assaulted the monk with dastardly speed and took it down with a mighty chop to its neck. The Pyramid Turtle stomped on Yami's set card, which was revealed to be a Sangan. It was crushed under the turtle's weight.

"Now my Sangan's effect is activated," Yami mentioned. "Since it was sent from the field to the graveyard, I can bring a monster to my hand from my deck that has an attack value of 1500 or less. Next, I'll set one M/T and summon the Copycat! Copycat will copy the attack and defense of your Ryu Kokki and attack your Pyramid Turtle!"

Yami's Copycat bore the form of Ryu Kokki and charged at the Pyramid Turtle. The turtle made an attempt to bite the copycat, but instead had its jaws tightly clenched by both of the copycat's hands. The Copycat ripped the turtle's jaws apart after a brief struggle, and Dolimus's Life Points dropped to 3550.

"As per my turtle's effect, I may immediately special summon a zombie with 2000 defense points or less, so I'll bring forth the Regenerating Mummy!" Dolimus announced as the corpse materialized in front of him. _I can see why they call him the King of Games… he's been leading this entire duel!_ "I'll tribute my set monster, Double Coston, which counts as two tributes for any DARK-type monster, and I'll summon Despair from the Dark!"

Dolimus's set monster disappeared and a dark shadow extended from his own. A sinister being rose from it and grinned at Yami maliciously.

"Despair from the Dark, attack Yami's Copycat!" Dolimus ordered.

The monster made a swipe at Yami's monster, but before it could connect, it seemed to strike an invisible protective barrier. The barrier vaporized the creature's arm and shone forth, expanding and cutting down all of Dolimus's monsters; his Vampire Lord, Ryu Kokki, Despair from the Dark, and Regenerating Mummy all fell.

"Now I'll draw… and I'll order my Copycat to attack your Life Points directly!" Yami declared as his Copycat, still emulating Ryu Kokki, leapt over to Dolimus and struck him down with a hard chop. His Life Points fell to 2150.

"As per 'Call of the Mummy', I'll special summon another Despair from the Dark and use it to attack your Copycat!" Dolimus declared as yet another shadow creature appeared before him. It shoved its dark arm through the Ryu Kokki and infected it with darkness. Corroded, it fell before Dolimus's monster's might and Yami's Life Points fell to 6800. _I won't stop. I won't give up,_ Dolimus said to himself within his mind.

Yami smiled at Dolimus. "Why are you doing this?" he asked.

Dolimus straightened himself up and faced Yami. "Because I can see clearer than ever before where I've gone wrong. All the way up to our duel and even now, I see choices I could have made, that I should have made. What started off as a halfway noble intention instead turned sour, fueled by my own hate and anger. It turned into a selfish lust for power, and in the end it nearly destroyed me. Even if I can't change the choices I've made in the past, at least I can do what I can to make things better. At least I can spend the rest of my life repenting for those awful decisions… no matter how long or short it may be."

"I see…"

"I owe this to Baron Von Stupor. He saved me, in a sense… Now I want to try and return the favor. If I can't make things right… then it's not like I have much left to live for, anyway…"

"You're very different now. Different even from when we all first met you."

Dolimus turned to face Téa, who had been watching the duel in a solemn silence the entire time. "I'm sorry, Téa," he said to her, staring straight into her eyes. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. Yugi, I understand the meaning of your loyalty to each other, and I no longer blame you for defending her. She really is a special girl… she really deserves friends like you."

Yami smiled once more and set one M/T card, ending his turn.

"I'll set one monster and order my Despair from the Dark to attack your Life Points directly!" Dolimus announced.

As Dolimus's monster came closer to Yami, Marshmallon burst from the ground and bounced off Despair from the Dark's face. The confused entity moved back to Dolimus and took his place as the Marshmallon wobbled around and swirled its eyes.

"What the heck…?" Dolimus muttered, a bit confused.

"I activated my trap card 'Call of the Haunted'. This trap works like 'Premature Burial' in that I may equip to a monster from my graveyard and bring it back to the field, except at no cost. If this card is destroyed, however, the monster is destroyed as well."

Dolimus seemed more concerned by the bizarre behavior of Yami's Marshmallon.

"I'll set one M/T and end my turn," Yami said.

"I'll also set an M/T. Since I can't destroy your Marshmallon through battle, I end my turn."

"I'll play 'Dark Magic Curtain'! This card removes half of my Life Points, and in exchange I may special summon a Dark Magician from my hand!"

A long, black curtain drew forth in front of Yami. Suddenly, confetti fluttered about the air as the Dark Magician drew the curtain back, revealing him.

_With my Life Points where they're at, I have no choice but to attack his monster, even if he has a trap prepared!_ Dolimus thought to himself. "Despair from the Dark, attack the Dark Magician!"

The Dark Magician raised his wand to fire at Despair from the Dark, but the evil shadow grabbed the wand from him and impaled him with it, felling him.

"Activate trap card!" Yami announced. "'Rope of Life'! This card revives a monster that was just destroyed and increases its attack by 800 points! Dark Magician is special summoned back to the field with 3300 attack points!"

"There goes my strongest monster…" Dolimus muttered.

"Dark Magician, attack Despair from the Dark!"

The Dark Magician rose from the ground and clutched its wand, a ferocious aura glowing. It raised its wand up and fired a black magical surge that shook Despair from the Dark's very image. Crying in pain, it dissipated and small souls swirled about where it once stood. After a few moments, the souls themselves disappeared.

_If I can get what I need… I'll still stand a chance,_ Dolimus thought to himself, drawing. _I'm still in this game!_ "I'll play 'Ekibyo Drakmord' on Dark Magician! This equip magic card prevents it from attacking! At the end of your second turn, your monster is then destroyed and this card gets returned to my hand!"

Yami's Dark Magician clutched its head tightly, then took on a very dazed expression. "Duhhh…" it moaned as saliva dribbled down its chin.

"Next, I'll play 'Premature Burial' to revive my Despair from the Dark and attack Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer!" Dolimus continued.

Despair from the Dark's arm stretched across the field and grabbed Kycoo by his head. Holding him in the air, Despair from the Dark ghosted its hand through Kycoo's head, dropping him. As Kycoo hit the ground, he did not move.

Yami drew his next card and looked at Dolimus very seriously.

"You've held out against me very well, Dolimus, but now here is your true test," he spoke. "I'll sacrifice my Marshmallon, Dark Magician, and second Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer to tribute summon the Egyptian god, _Obelisk the Tormentor!_"

Dolimus stood unflinching, staring at the mighty god as it lumbered forward to Yami's field. A low rumble could be felt all throughout the air as Obelisk's sheer power pulsated.

"Obelisk!" Yami commanded. "Attack Despair from the Dark!"

Obelisk's fist reared back as Despair from the Dark cackled and shot towards him. Despair from the Dark met Obelisk's mighty hand with a sickening crack and split into a thousand pieces, sending Dolimus's Life Points straight to 550.

_It's surprising… how unafraid you can be of something with when you know what's inevitably about to happen…_ Dolimus thought to himself, drawing a card. "I'll activate 'Reckless Greed'… I may draw two new cards, and in exchange I must skip my next two Draw Phases. Next, as per 'Call of the Mummy', I'll special summon another Ryu Kokki to the field. Now, Yami… here is _your_ true test. I'll play the magic card 'Creature Swap'. Since I can't affect your god monster, I'll affect you instead… and force you to give Obelisk to me while you receive my Ryu Kokki!"

"Oh, no!" Yami cried aloud. "Very good, Dolimus, I didn't expect you to find that workaround…"

"Yeah, well… I've had that same trick pulled on me in the past. I'll order Obelisk to attack Ryu Kokki!"

Before Obelisk could attack, Ryu Kokki ran away screaming. Obelisk snorted in disgust. Yami's Life Points dropped straight to 500 while he contemplated exactly what had happened.

"Alright… it's time employ a tactic I learned from the past as well… a trick used on me that I remember all too well. I'll summon a Magician of Faith!" Yami declared.

"A Magician of Faith? That's a weak monster with a flip effect, and the way you summoned it, you can't even use it…"

"I don't need to use her effect… I have the only magic card I need right in my hand… I play 'Riryoku'!"

"'Riryoku?!"

"Yes… god cards may be powered up or down for one turn, but are otherwise unaffected by magic, trap, or monster card effects. That's why I used 'Riryoku'. This card reduces the attack of one monster by half and adds it to one of mine, and I'll choose my Magician of Faith. This decreases Obelisk's attack to 2000 and increases my Magician of Faith's attack to 2300! Now, Magician of Faith, attack Obelisk the Tormentor!"

The Magician of Faith, growing to twice Obelisk's size, beat her chest and smashed Obelisk down with both hands. On his back, Obelisk raised his hands to defend himself, but the Magician of Faith's mighty shoe smashed through and stomped him flat.

"No way… I didn't think taking down a god card was possible…" Dolimus muttered to himself. "Now I only have 250 Life Points… At least Magician of Faith doesn't stay that strong. I'll play my magic card 'Book of Life', which—"

"Wait! I activate my trap card 'Big Burn'! Because you used a card that specifically designates a monster in your graveyard, all monsters in both of our graveyards are removed from play!"

"I'll just set one monster and end my turn, then."

"Dolimus… I'm afraid our duel ends here."

Dolimus smirked. "Then let me have it."

"I'll activate my trap card, 'Return from the Different Dimension'. This card will allow me to special summon as many monsters as possible that have been removed from play! At the end of my turn, they are then removed from play once more! I'll special summon two Kycoo the Ghost Destroyers, my Dark Magician, and Obelisk the Tormentor!"

A large portal appeared above the duelists' heads as the monsters all dropped from it, staring at Dolimus with unflinching resolve.

"Next, I'll attack your set monster with Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer!" Yami commanded.

"You've attacked my Spirit Reaper. The only important thing about its effect right now is that it can't be destroyed as a result of battle," Dolimus explained.

"Very well. It seems you leave me with no choice but to use Obelisk's special effect…"

"Do it."

"I'll sacrifice my two ghost destroyers in order to activate Obelisk's special effect… he destroys all monsters on your side of the field and delivers 4000 points of direct damage to your Life Points!"

Yami's two monsters disappeared and in beams of light, flew into Obelisk's two mighty fists. Obelisk crouched down and began to charge his energy. His hands glowed a brilliant light and Dolimus simply watched on, fully expecting what was about two happen. Obelisk thrust his fists forward and a rush of energy blasted away Dolimus's monster. Obelisk then lunged forward and delivered a crushing punch to Dolimus, knocking him well over six feet before he touched the ground. He continued to tumble from the force of the punch until he finally landed in a face-down position, his Life Points at zero.

"Unggghh…" he groaned, rolling his head to face off to the side. "Good fight…"

"Dolimus…" Yami spoke to him, running to help him sit up.

"Thanks… for doing this for me," he said to Yami.

"I trust you, Dolimus. I can tell that every word you're saying is true."

"That's good…"

Téa approached the two, albeit slowly. Still she watched on, unsure of what to say. The fog began to fade around them.

"Dolimus…" she called to him. He looked over to her. "I forgive you now… for what you did to me. I still want to be your friend."

Dolimus seemed heavily surprised by this as his eyes widened.

"If you manage to come back from the Shadow Realm, let's try to start over… and forget the past," Yami said to him. "We'll help you."

"Are you… sure that's possible?" he asked in response.

"Let's try."

Dolimus smiled, then noticed how little fog remained.

"It's time," he said, and closed his eyes. After a few moments, he began to convulse and soon after, was completely still except for the soft breaths of his soulless body.

Yami laid him down on the ground and looked up at Téa, who stared back sadly.

"Do you really think that Baron Von Stupor or Dolimus stand any chance of coming back?" she asked.

"I don't know… but Dolimus wanted this whether there was or wasn't. We'll just have to trust in him… and Baron Von Stupor. Surely Baron Von Stupor knew what he was getting himself into. He's much more intelligent than anyone has given him credit for."

"For both of their sakes… I hope so…"

"I hope so, too. And I hope that they come back soon, because the longer their souls spend separated from their bodies, the less chance there is that they'll ever make it back from the Shadow Realm. Come on, Téa… let's get Joey and Tristan to help us transport these bodies back to my Grandpa's house."


	27. Chapter 27: Epilogue

"Chapter 27- Epilogue"

By: Agent Baron

Having been defeated in a duel he knew would lose, Dolimus willingly thrust his soul into the Shadow Realm to aid Baron Von Stupor and help him come back home to safety. Yami managed to bring the bodies of the two duelists back to the Kamé Game Store, the cloth still over Baron Von Stupor's face to respect his true appearance. Yugi's grandfather, being no stranger to the dark arts, is understanding of the situation regarding the two duelists and their descent into the Shadow Realm and agreed to house their bodies. Maximillion Pegasus, also involved in the dark arts to an extent, understood the gravity of the predicament and extended an offer of assistance.

"I can't believe Baron Von Stupor would do something so foolish for some boy," Pegasus spoke into the phone. "But as always, I trust his decision-making abilities… I can cover up his hiatus and even care for the bodies if you want."

"On second thought, I suppose it would be difficult to house the bodies here," Yugi replied. "Thank you for helping us, Pegasus."

"Don't worry about it. If anything, consider it as thanks for getting my soul back before it became food for Leviathan."

"Do you think it's possible to return from the Shadow Realm?"

"You know about as much about it as I do, Yugi-boy. But if that mask left this world with him and the Millennium Eye stayed behind, that would mean that wherever he is, that mask is probably still with him, and will likely be his ticket back to this world."

"I never thought about that… okay, thanks Pegasus!"

"Mm-hmm. Well, I'm rather busy right now, especially with this stunt Baron Von Stupor is pulling, so I really must be going now."

"Alright. Good-bye, Pegasus."

Yugi hung up the phone and walked back into the living room, where Téa, Joey, Tristan, Amy, and Solomon Mutou sat.

"Pegasus said he'd take the bodies and help cover up Baron Von Stupor's absence… all we need to do is hope that they come back safe and sound," Yugi said to the group.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Something like this really makes you realize exactly how little we know about this stuff," Joey commented.

"Yeah…" said Yugi, looking down. "The Pharaoh is our best reference for information on the Shadow Games, and even he doesn't know very much about them since he lost his memories. But for some reason… I just have this feeling that as long as Baron Von Stupor maintains his faith and never stops fighting, he'll turn out just fine."

Yugi's smile seemed to brighten everyone's mood a bit.

"Yeah, until then, let's just keep doing what we're doing and build some fun memories to tell him about when he comes back!" Joey suggested.

"Why would you all be so cheerful when Baron Von Stupor is gone?" Amy asked, still a bit worried.

"What else can we do? Even if Von isn't around, I'm sure he wouldn't want to be the reason our moods are dragged down."

"Yeah… being cheerful is all we can do," added Yugi. "That and hoping he makes it back all right."

"We're all gonna miss him, but we have to keep moving onward and upward," Tristan chimed in.

"I suppose you're right… what good is moping around, anyway? All it will do is bring everyone else down," Amy conceded with a light smile. "I understand."

"So what exactly is next, anyway?" asked Tristan.

"Well, wouldn't the Pharaoh regain his memories when he presents the god cards to the stone tablet?" Amy reminded them. "Last time, Yugi was interrupted, right?"

"Right…" said Yugi, snapping his fingers. "Okay guys, let's go restore the Pharaoh's memories."

Together, the group continued their own quest with all of their hopes placed in Dolimus and Baron Von Stupor's safe return from the Shadow Realm.

* * *

**Merry Christmas, everyone! I posted the final two chapters of the fanfiction as both a Christmas present and due to the naturally short length of my prologues and epilogues. I'm sad to say that this is definitely the conclusion to 'TMD2: The Sequel to the Masked Duelist', but this is not the end of the ongoing saga of Baron Von Stupor! Stay tuned as Yu-Gi-Oh! intensifies to an exciting conclusion with a little influence from a small number of readers' and one writer's favorite duelist!**

**Powerful monster battles...  
Loose ends tied, questions answered...  
Sailor Mercury eats potato salad for the first time...**

**Everything comes around full circle in the upcoming sequel, 'TMD3: The Finale of the Masked Duelist'! Look out!  
**


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